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DIOCESE   OF  CONNECTICUT. 


Seabury  Centenary 


DIOCESE   OF  CONNECTICUT. 


REPORT 


OF 


Commemorative    Services 


WITH  THE 


Sermons  and   Addresses 


Seabury   Centenary, 
I 883- I 885. 


WITH  AN  APPENDIX. 


NEW    YORK: 
James   Pott  &   Co.,    Publishers, 

14  AND    16  ASTOR   PLACE. 

1885. 


THE  CASE,   LOCKWOOD  &  BRAINARD  CO., 

PRINTERS    AND    BINDERS, 

HARTFORD,    CONN. 


CONTENTS. 


Prefatory  Note,         .... 
Centenary  of  Bishop  Seabury's  Election 
Thanksgiving,  Easter-Day,  March  25,  1883, 
Service  at  Woodbury,  March  27,  1883, 

Bishop  Williams's  Address, 

Dr.  Beardsley's  Address,     . 
Diocesan  Convention,  1883, 

Bishop  Williams's   Sermon, 

Centenary  of  Bishop  Seabury's  Consecration 
Diocesan  Convention.  1884, 

Bishop  Williams's  Sermon 
Service  at  Hartford,  November  14,  1884, 

Dr.  Tatlock's  Address, 

The  Bishop's  Reply, 

Dr.  Beardsley's  Address, 

Mr.  Nichols's  Address, 

Mr.  Hart's  Address, 

Bishop  WiUiams's  Address 

Exhibition  of  Seabury  ReHcs, 
Centenary  of  Bishop  Seabury's  Return 
Diocesan  Convention,  1885, 

Bishop  Williams's  Sermon, 
Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885, . 

Bishop  Williams's  Address, 

Dr.  Beardsley's  Historical  Sketch, 


PAGE 

vii 


Appendix  —  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen,  iI 
Bishop  Williams's  Sermon, . 
Presentation  of  Paten  and  Chalice, 
Presentation  of  Address  and  Reply, 
Presentation  of  Pastoral  Staff, 
Dr.  Beardsley's  Address,     . 
Address  from  St.  Andrew's  Church, 


DEUS,  A  URIBUS  NOSTRIS  A  UDIVIMUS, 

PA  TRES  NOSTRI  ANNUNTIA  VERUNT  NOBIS, 

OPUS  QUOD  OPERA  TUS  ES  IN  DIE  BUS  EORUM, 
ET  IN  DIE  BUS  ANTIQUIS. 


^-j  Ci-  tT,7.>._ 

^  NCV2-.;  ic:5  -^ 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


^^ 


In  his  address  to  the  Diocesan  Convention  of  1881, 
Bishop  Wilhams  suggested  the  appointment  of  a  commit- 
tee to  provide  for  the  appropriate  commemoration  of  the 
centenary  of  the  election  of  the  first  Bishop  of  Connec- 
ticut in  the  last  week  of  March,  1783.  On  motion  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley,  this  suggestion  was  referred  to  a 
committee  of  three  clergymen  and  two  laymen,  with  the 
Bishop  as  chairman.  The  Bishop  appointed  on  the  com- 
mittee the  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley,  the  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Jarvis, 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Hart,  the  Hon.  F.  J.  Kingsbury,  and  the 
Hon.  H.  B.  Harrison. 

At  the  Convention  of  1882,  on  recommendation  of  this 
committee,  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Bishop  be  requested  to  set  forth  a 
special  thanksgiving  to  be  used  throughout  the  Diocese 
on  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  election  of 
Bishop  Seabury,  March  25th,  1883,  being  Easter-Day  and 
also  the  Festival  of  the  Annunciation. 

Resolved,  That  a  memorial  service,  with  addresses,  be 
held  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Woodbury,  on  Tuesday  in 
Easter-week,  March  27th,  1883,  for  which  the  Bishop  be 
desired  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements. 

Resolved,  That  the  Bishop  be  further  requested  to  pro- 
vide for  a  commemorative  service  with  an  historical  dis- 
course at  the  opening  of  the  Annual  Convention  of  1883. 

It  was  also,  on  motion  of  the  Rev.  S.  F.  Jarvis, 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  consisting  of  the  Bishop, 
three  priests,  and  two  laymen  be  appointed, to 


viii  Prefatory  Note. 


present  to  the  Diocesan  Conventions  of  1883  and  1884, 
if  they  shall  deem  it  expedient,  a  detailed  plan  or  plans 
for  the  further  special  observances  as  a  Diocese  of  the 
centenary  commemoration  of  Dr.  Seabury's  Consecration, 
of  the  first  Convocation  summoned  by  him,  of  the  first 
Ordination  on  this  continent,  and  of  any  ecclesiastical 
events  which  are  specially  and  historically  connected  with 
this  Diocese  and  which  it  may  be  deemed  desirable  to 
celebrate. 

The  committee  appointed  under  this  resolution  was  the 
same  as  that  appointed  in  1882.  In  accordance  with  resolu- 
tions recommended  by  this  committee  in  1883  and  1884,  the 
Convention  requested  the  Bishop  to  make  arrangements 
for  commemorative  services  on  the  fourteenth  day  of 
November,  1884,  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Con- 
secration of  Bishop  Seabury,  and  on  the  third  day  of 
August,  1885,  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  first 
ordination  held  by  him. 

The  Bishop  having  delivered  an  historical  discourse  at 
the  opening  of  the  Convention  of  1883,  commemorative 
of  the  election  of  Bishop  Seabury,  on  motion  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Giesy,  the  thanks  of  the  Convention  were  tendered 
to  him,  and  he  was  ''respectfully  and  earnestly  requested  " 
to  preach  a  sermon  at  the  next  Convention  in  comme- 
moration of  Bishop  Seabury's  Consecration.  A  like  vote 
was  passed  in  1884,  desiring  the  Bishop  ''to  supplement 
the  sermons  delivered  at  this  and  the  preceding  Conven- 
tions with  a  third  at  the  Convention  of  1885,  necessary  to 
the  historical  completion  by  the  same  hand  of  the  cen- 
tenary commemoration  of  the  Consecration  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  as  the  first  Bishop  of  Connec- 
ticut." 

This  volume  contains  a  report  of  the  Centenary  Com- 
memorative Services  held  in  accordance  with  the  resolu- 
tions, and  also  the  historical   sermons  preached  by  the 


Prefatory  Note.  ix 


Bishop  at  the  request  of  the  Convention.  In  the  Appendix 
will  be  found  Bishop  Wilhams's  sermon  preached  at  the 
commemoration  in  Aberdeen  in  October,  1884,  with  an 
account  of  the  part  which  the  delegation  from  Connecti- 
cut took  in  that  commemoration,  including  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Beardsley's  paper  on  ''Seabury  as  a  Bishop." 


NOVI  ORBIS  APOSTOLI  SIT  NOMEN  PERENNE." 


Centenary    Commemoration 

OF  THE   ELECTION  OF 

Bishop    Seabury. 

1883. 


The   Rev.    SAMUEL   SEABURY,    D.D. 

WAS    ELECTED 

FIRST    BISHOP     OF    CONNECTICUT 

AT   WOODBURY, 

MARCH    25,    1783. 


HE  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  election 
of  Bishop  Seabury  fell  on  Easter-Day  (being 
also  the  Festival  of  the  Annunciation),  1883. 
In  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Diocesan 
Convention,  the  Bishop  set  forth  the  following  special 
Thanksgiving  to  be  used  throughout  the  Diocese,  imme- 
diately after  the  General  Thanksgiving  at  Morning  and 
Evening  Prayer  on  that  day : 

ALMIGHTY  GOD,  Who  by  Thy  Holy  Spirit  hast 
appointed  divers  orders  of  ministers  in  Thy  Church, 
we  give  unto  Thee  high  praise  and  hearty  thanks,  that 
Thou  didst  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  our  fathers  and 
brethren  to  elect,  on  this  day,  to  the  work  and  ministry 
of  a  Bishop  in  Thy  Church,  Thy  servant,  to  whom  the 
charge  of  this  Diocese  was  first  committed;  and  that 
Thou  didst  so  replenish  him  with  the  truth  of  Thy  doc- 
trine and  endue  him  with  innocency  of  life,  that  he  was 
enabled,  both  by  word  and  deed,  faithfully  to  serve  Thee 
in  this  office,  to  the  glory  of  Thy  name,  and  the  edifying 
and  well-governing  of  Thy  Church.  For  this  so  great 
mercy,  and  for  ail  the  blessings  which,  in  Thy  good 
Providence,  it  brought  to  this  portion  of  the  flock  of 
Christ,  we  offer  unto  Thee  our  unfeigned  thanks,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  to  Whom,  with  Thee  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  world  without 
end.     Aine7t. 

On  Tuesday  in  Easter-Week,  March  27th  (the  day  of 
the  week  on  which  the  Festival  of  the  Annunciation  fell 
in   1783),  a  commemorative  service  was  held  in  St.  Paul's 


Seabury  Centenary —  Connecticut. 


Church,  Woodbury,  at  1 1  o'clock  a.m.  The  Bishop  began 
the  Communion-service,  the  Rev.  S.  O.  Seymour  of 
Litchfield  reading  the  Epistle,  and  the  Rev.  E.  E. 
Beardsley,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  New  Haven  reading  the 
Gospel.  After  the  Nicene  Creed,  a  part  of  the  99th 
hymn  in  the  old  Prayer-Book  collection  was  sung  ;  and 
the  Bishop  then  made  an  address  based  on  the  clos- 
ing words  of  the  Epistle  :  "  I  work  a  work  in  your  days, 
a  work  which  ye  shall  in  no  wise  believe,  though  a  man 
declare  it  unto  you." 

The  Bishop  spoke  of  the  faith  and  the  courage 
which  inspired  the  clergymen  who  met  a  hundred 
years  ago  in  that  quiet  village  to  elect  the  first 
bishop  of  Connecticut.  They  felt  that  they  owed 
a  sacred  duty  to  God  ;  and,  not  stopping  to  specu- 
late upon  the  needs  of  some  imaginary  Church  of 
the  future,  they  did  what  was  specially  needed  for 
the  welfare  of  the  Church  in  their  own  day.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  war  of  independence  there 
had  been  twenty  missionaries  of  the  mother  Church 
of  England  laboring  in  the  colony.  They  were  in 
great  part  supported  by  the  Venerable  Society  in 
England,  and  they  were  under  oaths  of  loyalty  to 
the  Crown ;  it  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that  their 
sympathies  were  not  on  the  popular  side.  They 
were  obliged  to  suffer  great  hardships ;  and  the 
end  of  the  war  found  the  Church  in  Connecticut 
in  a  very  depressed  condition,  with  the  clergy  and 
people  scattered  and  some  of  the  parishes  quite 
broken  up.  Fourteen  clergymen  were  left,  and  of 
these  ten  met  in  the  study  of  the  Rev.  John  Rut- 
gers Marshall  on  the  Festival  of  the  Annunciation 
in  1783,  to  take  counsel  as  to  what  was  to  be  done. 
Peace  had  not  been  proclaimed,  but  it  was  known 


Service  at    Woodbury,  March  25,  1883.  5 

that  the  war  was  at  an  end ;  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  times  \\rere  such  that  they  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  take  action  at  as  early  a  day  as  possible. 
And  they  instructed  their  candidate  that  if  he 
should  fail  to  obtain  consecration  in  England,  he 
should  seek  it  at  the  hands  of  the  bishops  of  the 
disestablished  church  of  Scotland. 

Men  had  very  real  thoughts  about  Holy  Orders 
then,  when  they  were  obliged  to  cross  the  ocean 
for  what  they  believed  to  be  valid  ordination,  and 
when  one  man  out  of  every  five  who  sought  ordi- 
nation in  England  lost  his  life  from  shipwreck  or 
disease.  The  results  of  their  faithfulness  have 
been  far  greater  and  more  wide-reaching  than  they 
could  have  imagined.  They  would  not  have 
believed  it  possible  that  at  the  end  of  a  century 
there  would  be  in  Connecticut  nearly  two  hundred 
clergymen  and  twenty-two  thousand  communicants, 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  being  used  by  devout 
congregations  throughout  the  limits  of  the  State; 
and  that  not  only  would  this  Diocese  bear  witness 
to  God's  blessing  on  their  faithfulness,  but  that 
there  would  be  a  united  and  prosperous  Church 
throughout  the  land,  owing  to  them  much  of  its 
unity  and  prosperity.  The  lesson  which  we  learn 
from  them  is  that  Christ's  work  is  to  be  done  in 
Christ's  own  way,  and  that,  thus  done,  it  will  cer- 
tainly abide. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley,  after  a  brief  introduction, 
added  substantially  as  follows  : 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  clergy  who  met  here 
on  the  Festival  of  the  Annunciation,  1783,  were 
full  of  earnestness  and  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
in  their  efforts  to  organize  the  Episcopal  Church 

I* 


Seabury  Centenary — Comiecticut. 


in  Connecticut  and  provide  for  her  completeness 
and  continuance  under  a  changed  form  of  civil 
government.  The  seven  years'  struggle  of  the 
Thirteen  Colonies  for  independence  of  the  power 
of  Great  Britain  was  ended,  and  the  poor  people, 
exhausted  on  every  side,  were  at  a  loss  to  know 
what  methods  should  be  adopted  to  rise  from 
their  depression  and  recover  in  any  degree  their 
former  prosperity.  The  Missionaries  of  the  Church 
of  England  —  of  whom  fourteen  were  left  in  Con- 
necticut at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  — 
had  been  aided  by  stipends  from  the  Venerable 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  but  these  stipends,  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  Society,  ceased  when  the  separation  finally 
took  place.  Of  the  fourteen  Missionaries,  all  save 
two^  were  born  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  and 
all  had  been  compelled  to  cross  the  ocean  to  obtain 
Holy  Orders  —  there  being  no  bishop  in  this  coun- 
try —  though  the  boon  had  often  been  solicited  from 
the  English  Church  and  as  often  denied.  The 
trammels  of  State  alliance  and  the  policy  of  prefer- 
ring political  expediency  to  religious  right  prevented 
the  authorities  from  venturing  upon  a  spiritual  act 
and  granting  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners.  The 
clergy  had  ministered  to  their  flocks  all  along  in 
the  face  of  intolerance  and  bitter  opposition  from 

^  The  Rev.  John  Rutgers  Marshall  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York^ 
1743,  ■^^'^s  an  alumnus  of  Columbia  College,  ordained  1771,  and  died  1789. 
The  Rev.  Daniel  Fogg  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  College,  ordained  1770,  and  died  181 5. 

The  full  list  includes  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Samuel  Andrews  of  Wallingford, 
Gideon  Bostwick  of  Great  Barrington  (reckoned  ecclesiastically  as  in  Con- 
necticut), Richard  Samuel  Clarke  of  New  Milford,  Ebenezer  Dibblee  of 
Stamford,  Daniel  Fogg  of  Brooklyn,  Bela  Hubbard  of  New  Haven,  Abra- 
ham Jarvis  of  Middletown,  Richard  Mansfield  of  Derby,  John  Rutgers 
Marshall  of  Woodbury,  Christopher  Newton  of  Ripton,  James  Nichols  of 
Plymouth,  James  Scovill  of  Waterbur}-,  John  Tyler  of  Norwich,  and  Roger 
Viets  of  Simsbury. 


Service  at    Woodbury,  March  25,  1883.  7 

the  Puritan  body,  and  the  war  for  independence 
had  subjected  them  to  peculiar  trials  and  reduced 
them  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  But,  without  thinking 
of  themselves,  or  how  they  should  be  supported  in 
the  broken  and  disastrous  condition  of  their  cures, 
their  first  effort  or  chief  anxiety  was  to  provide  for 
the  now  entirely  headless  Church;  and  so  in  Mid- 
Lent,  on  the  Festival  of  the  Annunciation,  March 
25th,  one  hundred  years  ago,  ten  of  the  fourteen 
clergy  remaining  in  Connecticut  quietly  assembled 
in  this  place,  and,  after  careful,  and,  we  must 
believe,  the  most  prayerful  deliberation,  they  selected 
two  persons  —  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Leaming  being 
the  first  choice,  and  then  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury 
—  as  suitable,  either  of  them,  to  go  to  England  and 
obtain,  if  possible.  Episcopal  consecration.  It  was 
a  secret  meeting  so  far  as  giving  any  public  notice 
of  it  was  concerned,  and  it  was  confined  to  the 
clergy,  perhaps,  among  other  reasons,  for  fear  of 
reviving  the  former  opposition  on  this  side  to  an 
American  Episcopate,  and  thus  of  defeating  their 
plan  to  complete  the  organization  of  the  Church 
and  secure  its  inherent  perpetuity  in  this  country. 
The  times  were  troubled,  and  the  establishment  of 
peace  with  a  foreign  power  did  not  necessarily  pro- 
duce tranquillity  and  happiness  at  home.  Mischiefs 
and  jealousies  still  lingered  with  those  who  had 
contended  for  liberty,  and  the  chief  Protestant 
sects,  which  have  all  erected  their  banners  and  had 
their  camping-ground  in  the  Church  of  England, 
were  ready  to  welcome  her  weakness  and  overthrow 
because  her  priests  and  her  people,  for  the  most 
part,  had  been  on  the  side  of  the  Crown  during  the 
long  struggle  for  independence.  But  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  destroy  what  God  holds  in  His  hand.     The 


Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut, 


passions  of  men  work  vast  evil  till,  in  calmer 
moments,  they  subside  and  a  better  light  shines 
through  their  principles  and  their  actions. 

The  outcome  of  the  meeting  at  Woodbury,  after 
many  hindrances  and  perplexities,  was  the  conse- 
cration by  the  non-juring  Bishops  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury  as  the 
first  Bishop  of  Connecticut  and  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States.  We  owe  to  this 
consecration  some  of  the  best  features  of  our  Book 
of  Common  Prayer.  We  owe  to  it  the  compact- 
ness and  unity  of  our  great  American  Communion, 
and  surely  it  was  well  to  have  what  we  used  on 
Sunday  last  —  a  form  of  thanksgiving  for  this  our 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  election  of  Bishop 
Seabury  that  God  did  "  so  replenish  him  with  the 
truth  of  His  doctrine  and  endue  him  with  innocency 
of  life  that  he  was  enabled,  both  by  word  and  deed, 
faithfully  to  serve  Him  in  the  office  of  a  bishop  to 
the  glory  of  His  name  and  the  edifying  and  well- 
governing  of  His  Church." 

The  Bishop  then  proceeded  with  the  office  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  being  assisted  in  the  service  by  the  Rev. 
Professor  Hart  of  Trinity  College,  and  in  the  administra- 
tion to  the  clergy  and  a  large  number  of  the  laity  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley,  the  Rev.  T.  B.  Fogg  of  Brooklyn, 
and  the  Rev.  J.  F.  George,  rector  of  the  parish.  Before 
the  benediction,  the  Bishop  read  the  special  thanksgiving 
set  forth  for  Easter-Day. 

After  the  service  the  clergy  and  other  visitors  were 
hospitably  entertained  by  the  ladies  of  St.  Paul's  parish 
in  the  house  in  which  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Marshall  lived  in 
1783,  and  in  the  very  room  in  which  the  ten  clergymen 
met  to  elect  the  first  Bishop  of  Connecticut. 


Service  at    Woodbury,  March  25,  1883.  9 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  clergymen  who  were 
present : 

The  Rt.  Rev.  the  Bishop ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  E.  Beards- 
ley,  New  Haven  ;  the  Rev.  Messrs.  H.  A.  Adams,  Wethers- 
field  ;  R.  R.  M.  Converse,  Waterbury ;  W.  C.  Cooley, 
Roxbury;  T.  B.  Fogg,  Brooklyn;  J.  F.  George,  Wood- 
bury; Prof.  Samuel  Hart,  Hartford;  J.  G.  Jacocks,  New 
Haven  ;  E.  S.  Lines,  New  Haven ;  R.  W.  Micou,  Water- 
bury  ;  S.  O.  Seymour,  Litchfield  ;  James  Stoddard,  Water- 
town  ;  Hiram  Stone,  Bantam  Falls  ;  Elisha  Whittlesey, 
Hartford  ;  Alex.  Mackay-Smith,  New  York  City. 


N  the  twelfth  day  of  June,  1883,  the  annual  Con- 
vention of  the  Diocese  met  in  Trinity  Church, 
New   Haven.     The  opening  service  was  made 
a   formal   commemoration    of    the    election    of 
Bishop  Seabury. 

Morning  Prayer  was  begun  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Fermor 
Jarvis,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Brooklyn,  grandson  of 
the  Rev.  Abraham  Jarvis  who  was  Secretary  of  the  Con- 
vention in  1783  and  afterwards  the  second  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese  ;  the  First  Lesson  (Isaiah  Ixi.)  was  read  by  the 
Rev.  George  Dowdall  Johnson,  of  the  Diocese  of  New 
York,  great-grandson  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson, 
"the  Father  of  Episcopacy  in  Connecticut"  ;  the  Second 
Lesson  (Ephesians  iv.  to  verse  17),  by  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Brinley  Fogg  of  Brooklyn,  grandson  of  the  Rev.  Daniel 
Fogg  who  was  one  of  the  electors  of  Bishop  Seabury ; 
and  the  Nicene  Creed  and  the  Prayers,  including  a  special 
Thanksgiving,  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hart,  Seabury  Profes- 
sor in  Trinity  College,  great-great-great -grandson  of  one 
of  the  five  who  with  Johnson  and  Cutler  signed  the 
paper  touching  their  ordination,  which  was  presented  to 
the  "  Fathers  and  Brethren  "  in  the  Library  of  Yale  Col- 
lege on  the  thirteenth  day  of  September,  1722.  The 
Bishop  began  the  office  of  the  Holy  Communion,  using 
the  Collect  for  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude's  Day ;  the  Epistle 
(that  for  St.  Matthew's  Day)  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Edwin 
Harwood,  D.D.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  and  the  Gospel 


Convention  Sermon,  1883.  11 


(that  for  St.  Barnabas's  Day),  by  the  Rev.  E.  E.  Beards- 
ley,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Thomas's  Church,  New 
Haven,  Historian  of  the  Diocese  and  Biographer  of  its 
first  Bishop.  The  Sermon  was  preached  by  Bishop 
WilUams,  as  follows  : 

MEN    FOR    THE    TIMES. 

I.  Chron.  xii.  32. 

Men  that  had  understanding  of   the  times,  to  know  what  Israel 
ought  to  do. 

I  know  no  better  words  than  these  to  give  direc- 
tion to  our  thoughts  in  the  service  of  this  day.  It 
is  a  service  of  deepest  thankfuhiess  and  of  most 
sacred  memories.  It  takes  us  back  over  the  years 
of  a  century.  It  brings  to  our  remembrance  the 
story  of  the  more  than  threescore  previous  years 
which  led  up  to  the  event  that  we  commemorate. 
It  awakens  hope  and  trust  for  a  coming  and  un- 
known future.  It  binds  those  memories  of  the  past 
and  those  hopes  for  the  future  into  one  Hving  body 
of  thanksgiving,  which,  for  all  who  have  gone  be- 
fore us,  for  ourselves,  and  for  those  who  are  to  fol- 
low us,  must  find  utterance  in  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist :  "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but 
unto  Thy  Name  give  the  praise,  for  Thy  loving 
mercy  and  for  Thy  truth's  sake." 

Go  back  with  me,  brethren,  in  your  thoughts,  to 
the  beginning  of  the  century  the  close  of  which  we 
commemorate.  It  is  the  Festival  of  the  Annuncia- 
tion in  1783;  and  we  find  ourselves  in  an  inland 
village  of  what  was,  ere  long,  to  become  the  Dio- 
cese of  Connecticut,  the  village  of  Woodbury.  It 
was  not  then  the  village  of  our  time,  the  long  street 
of  which,  with  its  venerable  elms  and  well-kept 
homesteads,  nestles  beneath  the  craggy  heights  that 


12  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

overlook  it,  or  spreads  out  in  peaceful  loveliness  to- 
wards stream  and  valley.  Things  were  on  a  smaller 
scale  then,  rougher  and  ruder  than  they  now  are. 
One  house,  at  least,  still  stands  that  was  standing 
then ;  and  if  we  enter  it  we  shall  find  ourselves  in 
the  "  glebe-house  "  which  is  the  abode  of  the  mis- 
sionary of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel,  and  in  the  presence  of  ten  of  the  fourteen 
clergy  of  Connecticut  who  were  ministering  in 
their  cures  at  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. Neither  history  nor  tradition  has  preserved 
to  us  all  the  names  of  these  true-hearted  men.  We 
know,  however,  from  written  records,  that  Marshall, 
in  whose  house  they  met,  Jarvis  of  Middletown, 
who  w^as  their  secretary,  and  Fogg  of  Brooklyn, 
whose  correspondence  tells  us  what  we  should  not 
otherwise  have  known,  were  among  them.^  Beyond 
these  we  are  left  to  conjecture. 

We  may  imagine,  though  we  can  never  fully  enter 
into,  the  deep  anxiety  of  the  hour,  with  all  its 
doubts  and  fears  so  far  surpassing  its  hopes  and  en- 
couragements. We  remember  how  they  felt  them- 
selves compelled  to  meet  in  the  utmost  secrecy,  not, 
as  has  been  sometimes  unworthily  intimated,  be- 
cause they  feared  their  own  people,  but  because 
they  knew  not  what  interference  might  befall  them 
from  the  powers  that  were  should  their  purpose  be 
made  known.  We  think  of  them  as,  on  that  Festi- 
val of  the  Incarnation,  they  knelt  down  in  an  isola- 
tion and  desolation  of  which  we  can  have  no  knowl- 
edge, to  implore  the  guidance  of  the  Heavenly  Wis- 
dom in  their  counsels  and  efforts  for  that  Divine 
Institution  which,  because  of  the  Incarnation,  is  the 

1  It  is  more  than  probable,  I  think,  that  Mansfield  of  Derby,  Hubbard  of 
New  Haven,  Newton  of  Ripton,  Scovill  of  Waterbury,  Clark  of  New 
Milford,  Andrews  of  Wallingford,  and  Tyler  of  Norwich  were  also  present. 


Convention  Sermon ^  1883.  13 

Body  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  recognize 
what  a  venture  of  faith  they  were  about  to  make  in 
sending  one  forth  to  seek  consecration  to  the  Epis- 
copate, that  so  he  might  discharge  the  office  of  the 
Bishop  in  the  Church  of  God  to  a  flock  weak  and 
despised,  "  scattered  and  peeled " ;  and  what  a 
greater  venture  of  faith  he  would  make  who  should 
go  forth  on  that  errand,  so  doubtful  and  uncertain. 
We  picture  to  ourselves  all  the  conditions  of  diffi- 
culty and  discouragement  by  which  they  were  sur- 
rounded. We  remember  that  the  story  of  succeed- 
ing years,  familiar  as  household  words  to  us,  was 
hidden  from  them  in  the  darkness  that  veiled  an 
unknown  future.  We  know  that  they  could  not 
even  have  dreamed  of  all  that  was  to  come  out  of 
that  day's  doings.  We  think  of  all  these  things 
and  many  others,  which  I  will  not  attempt  even  to 
suggest,  leaving  it  to  your  own  thoughts  to  fill  out 
details  that  are  omitted,  and  the  one  conclusion  to 
which  all  our  thoughts  and  all  our  ponderings  must 
bring  us  is,  that  those  ten  men  of  whom  the  great 
world  knew  nothing  then,  of  whom  it  takes  no 
thought  now,  were,  nevertheless,  "  men  that  had 
understanding  of  the  times,  to  know  what  Israel 
ought  to  do." 

The  two  events  round  which  all  the  memories, 
the  associations,  the  details,  of  this  and  next  year's 
commemorations  group  themselves,  are  the  election 
of  our  first  Bishop  in  1783,  and  his  consecration  at 
Aberdeen  in  1 784.  It  seems  to  be  my  duty,  to-day, 
to  limit  myself  strictly  to  the  first  of  these  ;  to  what 
led  up  to  it  and  to  the  event  itself  ;  leaving  it  to 
whoever  shall  preach  the  sermon  of  next  year  to 
speak  of  what  followed  the  election,  of  the  conse- 
cration itself,  and  of  its  outcomes  for  this  Church. 


14  SeabiLvy  Centenary — Connecticut. 

It  seems  a  narrow  field — that  to  which  I  find  my- 
self limited — but,  unless  I  am  greatly  deceived,  it 
presents  to  us  topics  which  will  deserve  careful 
consideration. 

First,  then,  let  me  say  something  of  what  led  up 
to  the  election  of  1783.  In  doing  so  I  must  go 
back  to  i\\Q  p7^i7nordia  of  the  Church  in  this  Diocese. 

It  ought  never  to  be  forgotten  that  the  first  mis- 
sionary— if  I  may  so  speak — of  our  Church  in  Con- 
necticut was  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  Keith 
and  Talbot  had,  indeed,  preached  at  New  London  in 
1702.  Muirson  had  organized  the  few  churchmen 
at  Stratford  into  a  parish  in  1 707.  Different  clergy- 
men had,  from  time  to  time,  through  the  watchful 
care  of  Caleb  Heathcote — a  name  that  we  ought 
never  to  forget — ministered  to  that  little  band  in 
their  sore  trials  and  vexations.  One,  Francis  Phil- 
lips, had  come  to  them  and,  after  six  months  of 
neglect  and  carelessness,  departed,  leaving  only  con- 
fusion behjnd  him.  But  long  before  anything  like 
permanent  ministration  was  begun  at  Stratford  by 
George  Pigot  on  Trinity  Sunday  in  1722,  Samuel 
Johnson  at  Guilford  had  been  diligently  studying 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  put  into  his  hands  by 
Smithson — another  name  never  to  be  forgotten — 
and  in  those  studies  we  find,  it  seems  to  me,  the 
true  beginnings  of  what  was  to  become  the  Diocese 
of  Connecticut.  The  old  Faith  enshrined  in  the 
historic  creeds  of  the  Prayer-Book ;  the  law  and 
life  of  worship  embodied  in  its  formularies,  all  lead- 
ing up  to  and  centering  in  the  highest  act  of  Chris- 
tian worship,  the  Holy  Eucharist ;  its  ideal  of  the 
Christian  life  taught  in  its  Catechism  and  carried 
out  in  all  its  offices  from  baptism  to  burial ;  on 
these  foundations,  no  broader  and  no  narrower,  was 


Convention  Sermo7i,  1883.  15 

our  Church  here  built  up.     God  grant  that  on  these 
foundations  it  may  stand  till  time  shall  end  ! 

I  protest  against  the  narrow  and  unhistoric  idea 
that  Johnson  and  those  who  labored  with  and  after 
him  conformed  to  the  Church  of  England  only  be- 
cause of  their  convictions  touching  Holy  Orders. 
No  doubt  those  convictions  were  a  factor,  a  most 
important  factor,  in  the  change  they  made.  But 
there  was  a  great  deal  more  involved  than  that  one 
question.  Men  who  had  gone  from  the  dry  bones 
of  Ames's  Medulla  and  WoUebius  to  the  "  fresh 
springs  "  of  Hooker  and  Bull  and  Pearson,  must 
have  found  how  utterly  unlike  to  the  Catholic  Faith 
which  they  there  were  taught,  were  the  "  distribu- 
tions and  definitions  "  of  that  "  theoretical  divinity  " 
in  which  they  had  been  trained.  It  was  indeed,  as 
one  of  them  said,  "  emerging  from  the  glimmer  of 
twilight  into  the  full  sunshine  of  open  day."  Men 
who  had  unlearned  their  prejudices  against  "  pre- 
composed  forms  of  prayer"  by  the  study  of  such 
books  as  King's  Inventions  of  Men  in  the  Worship 
of  God  and  the  fifth  Book  of  Hooker's  immortal 
work,  and  above  all  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
itself,  must  have  reached  another  and  a  loftier  ideal 
of  worship  than  any  they  had  known  before.  Men 
who  had  passed  from  the  narrow,  cramped,  and 
often  conventional  theories  of  Christian  living  to 
which  they  were  accustomed,  to  the  reading  of 
Scott's  Christian  Life^  and  the  works  of  Ham- 
mond and  Ken,  had,  surely,  found  something  totally 
different  from  anything  to  which  they  were  wonted. 
The  question,  as  it  presented  itself  to  them,  took 
on  no  narrow  shape,  ran  in   no  single  groove.     It 

'  I  have  often  been  told,  by  the  late  Dr.  Jarvis,  that  Scott's  Christian 
Life  was  a  favorite  book  with  our  early  clergy,  especially  with  Johnson  and 
Beach. 


1 6  Seabury  Centenary — Coniiectictit. 

covered  the  Orders,  the  Faith,  the  Worship  of  the 
Church  of  God,  and  it  took  in  with  them  the  ideal 
of  the  Christian  Life.  It  was  no  narrower  than 
that ;  and  they  who  assume  that  it  was,  contradict 
the  conclusions  of  reason  and  the  testimony  of  his- 
tory. The  pioneers  of  our  Church  were  sometimes, 
in  their  own  days,  called  by  their  opponents  "  coven- 
ant-breakers." If,  however,  they  withdrew  from 
covenants  entered  into  by  men  with  each  other,  it 
was  only  that  they  might  attain  the  fulness  of  the 
Nev/  Covenant  in  the  Blood  of  the  Incarnate  Son 
of  God. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  here  the  words  of 
the  able  author  of  the  History  of  the  Colonial 
Church.  Looking  back  to  the  period  of  which  I 
have  been  speaking,  he  says  :  "  The  feeling  which 
prevails  over  every  other,  at  this  present  moment, 
and  which  alone  I  wish  to  leave  on  record,  is  the 
feeling  of  deepest  gratitude  to  those  men  of  Con- 
necticut, who,  not  from  a  mere  hereditary  attach- 
ment to  the  Church  of  England,  or  indolent  acquies- 
cence in  her  teachings,  but  from  a  deep  abiding 
conviction  of  the  truth  that  she  is  a  faithful '  Keeper 
and  Witness  of  Holy  Writ,'  have  shown  to  her 
ministers  in  every  age  and  country,  the  way  in  which 
they  can  best  promote  the  glory  of  their  Heavenly 
Master's  name,  and  enlarge  the  borders  of  His 
Kingdom."^ 

While,  however,  the  question  of  ordination  was 
only  one  out  of  many  things  that  drew  our  fathers 
and  pioneers  back  to  the  Church  from  which  their 
fathers  had  gone  out,  it  must,  from  the  very  exigen- 
cies of  the  case,  have  come  into  great  and  constant 
prominence.     It  could  not  be  otherwise.     The  rela- 

^  Anderson's  History  of  the  Colonial  Church,  iii.  444. 


Convention  Sermon,  1883.  17 

tions  of  our  missionaries  to  the  Bishop  of  London 
—  who  had,  by  what  may  ahiiost  be  called  an  acci- 
dent, acquired  jurisdiction  over  English  congrega- 
tions outside  of  England^  —  was  little  more  than 
nominal.  There  could  be  no  "  well-governing  of 
the  Church."  If  Orders  were  sought,  "  the  dangers 
of  the  sea,  sickness,  and  the  violence  of  enemies  " 
must  be  incurred,  and  one  in  every  five  that  went 
out  sacrificed  his  life  in  the  attempt  to  obtain  his 
ministerial  commission.  Confirmation  was  an 
impossibility ;  and  our  clergy  and  people  were 
taunted  with  the  solemn  mockery  —  for  it  was 
hardly  less  —  of  reading  the  direction  to  bring 
baptized  children  to  the  bishop  when  there  was  no 
bishop  to  whom  they  could  be  brought. 

That  there  was  no  bishop  in  America  was  not 
due  to  our  clergy  or  people  here.~  The  reason 
must  be  sought  elsewhere.  In  the  second  year  of 
its  existence,  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  had  entertained  the  idea  of  sending  a 
Suffragan  to  America;  and,  even  then,  the  bishops 
of  Scotland  "  were  regarded  as  the  channel  through 
which  that  assistance  could  most  readily  be  ob- 
tained."^ The  project  came  to  no  result.  If  there 
is  any  truth  in  the  tradition  that,  had  it  been 
carried  out,  Dean  Swift  would  have  been  sent  as 
Bishop  of  Virginia,  we  may  be  thankful  that  it 
failed. 

It  was  renewed  from  time  to  time,  from  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne  to  that  of  George  III.,  but  always 
without  result.  Petition  after  petition,  appeal  after 
appeal  was  sent  from  America ;  the  Episcopate  of 

'  It  was  obtained  by  Laud  in  1634  ;  see  Anderson,  i.  410. 
2  Possibly  Virginia  and  Maryland  are  to  be  excepted. 
^  Anderson,  iii.  36. 
2* 


1 8  Seabiiry  Ceiite7iary — Connecticut. 

England  was  implored  to  secure  the  appointment 
of  "  one  or  more  resident  bishops  in  the  colonies, 
for  the  exercise  of  offices  purely  episcopal  —  offices 
to  which  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England 
have  an  undoubted  claim,  and  from  w^hich  they 
cannot  be  precluded  without  manifest  injustice  and 
oppression."  ^  The  colonial  churchmen  found, 
indeed,  some  zealous  friends  in  the  English  Epis- 
copate ;  and  one's  heart  warms  as  one  reads  the 
names  of  Sharpe  and  Berkeley  and  Butler,  of  Gib- 
son and  Sherlock  and  Seeker.  But  I  fear  it  might 
be  truly  said  of  the  majority  of  the  bishops  of 
England  in  those  days,  "  that  they  thought  more  of 
the  Acts  of  Parliament  than  they  did  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles." 

From  Parliament  or  the  English  Ministry  noth- 
ing could  be  hoped,  so  long  as  Sir  Robert  Walpole 
or  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  controlled  the  action  of 
the  State  ;  the  name  of  the  first  of  whom  is  the  syn- 
onyme  of  private  profligacy  and  public  faithless- 
ness, while  of  the  latter  an  English  historian*^  has 
said  that  his  selfish  ambition  "  was  so  intense  a  pas- 
sion, that  it  supplied  the  place  of  talents  and 
inspired  even  fatuity  with  cunning."  Not  under 
such  auspices  w^as  the  Episcopate  to  be  given  to 
America. 

To  these  causes  of  failure  must,  doubtless,  be 
added  the  opposition  of  the  dominant  religious 
bodies  in  the  colonies.  But  here  it  must,  I  think, 
in  all  fairness  be  said,  that  this  opposition  was 
largely  due  to  the  fear  that,  were  bishops  sent  to 
America,  they  would,  somehow  and  at  some  time, 
be  "  invested  with  a  power  of  erecting  courts   to 

^  Bishop  Lowth,  Sermon  before  the  Venerable  Society. 

'  Lord  Macaulay.     Nor  was  much,  if  any,  more  to  be   hoped  for  from 
Pitt,  afterwards  first  Earl  of  Chatham. 


Convention  Sermon,  1883.  19- 

— c • 

take  cognizance  of  all  affairs  testamentary  and 
matrimonial,  and  to  enquire  into  and  punish  all 
offences  of  scandal  " ;  ^  in  other  words,  that  they 
would  be,  or  would  become,  officers  of  the  State  as 
well  as  bishops  in  the  Church.  No  such  purpose, 
it  is  almost  needless  to  say,  was  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  sought  the  establishment  of  a  colonial 
Episcopate.  All  they  desired  was  a  bishop  or 
bishops  invested  with  those  powers  —  and  no  others 
—  which  were  recognized  in  "  Holy  Scripture  and 
the  ancient  Canons."  But  this  was  just  what  some 
would  not,  and  many  others  could  not,  be  brought 
to  understand.  The  idea  of  the  officer  of  State, 
invested  with  civil  powers  and  functions,  was  the 
vision  that  disturbed  more  minds  than  we  can 
readily  imagine  now.  Says  the  elder  Adams, 
writing  in  181 5:  "Where  is  the  man  to  be  found 
wdio  will  believe  .  .  .  that  the  apprehension  of 
Episcopacy  contributed,  fifty  years  ago,  as  much  as 
any  other  cause,  to  arouse  the  attention,  not  only 
of  the  inquiring  mind,  but  of  the  common  people, 
and  urge  them  to  close  thinking  on  the  constitu- 
tional authority  of  Parliament  over  the  colonies  .^"^ 
Under  all  the  circumstances,  then,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  when  the  War  of  the  Revolution  ended,  and 
the    question    came    to    the    minds    of   thoughtful 

^  See  Mimites  of  Cojivention  of  Delegates  from  the  Synod  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  and  from  the  Associations  of  Connecticut^  held  arimcally 
from  1766  to  1775  inclusive  (Hartford,  1843).  ^^  is  now  a  rare  pamphlet, 
but  very  valuable  for  its  revelations  touching  men  and  measures. 

'^  All  parties  agreed  that  bishops  could  be  sent  out  only  under  an  act 
of  Parliament ;  and  there  seems  to  have  been  no  doubt  that  by  such  an 
act  they  would  be  divested  of  all  civil  powers  and  functions.  But  it  was 
said,  that  such  an  act  could  be  at  any  time  repealed  ;  and  if  it  were 
repealed,  then,  under  the  common  law  of  England,  bishops  in  the  colonies 
might  hold  their  courts,  and  exercise  such  functions  as  were  ordinarily 
exercised  by  them  in  the  mother  country.  The  danger  may  have  been 
largely  imaginary ;  but  it  was  certainly  within  the  limits  of  possibility,  and 
must,  in  all  candor,  be  fairly  considered. 


20  Seabury  Centenary — Conftecttctit. 

churchmen  how  the  Church  should  strengthen 
"  the  things  that  remained  that  were  ready  to  die," 
their  first  thought  should  have  been  for  the  Epis- 
copate. The  Faith  of  the  Universal  Church  they 
had  in  the  historic  Creeds.  Its  Worship  was  pre- 
served for  them  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 
But  how  to  provide  for  the  perpetuation  of  the 
"  Doctrine  and  Sacraments  and  the  Discipline  of 
Christ  as  the  Lord  had  commanded  and  as  this 
Church  had  received  the  same,"  that  was  the  great 
practical  pressing  question  with  which  they  were 
brought  face  to  face.  Ordination,  Confirmation, 
and  the  government  of  the  Church  must  of  need 
be  secured.  Nor  can  we  greatly  wonder  if  what 
no  entreaties  had  been  able  to  obtain  while  the 
colonies  were  a  part  of  the  British  Empire,  seemed 
now  to  many  an  almost  hopeless  undertaking. 
The  surrender  at  Yorktown  in  1781  was  to  many 
American  churchmen  the  death-blow  to  their  hopes 
for  an  American  Episcopate.  There  were  men 
enough  to  see  the  difficulties  and  discouragements, 
to  talk  and  write  and  speculate  about  them ;  but 
where  should  those  men  be  found  who  would 
grapple  with  them,  and  by  grappling  with  them 
overcome  them }  I  answer,  they  were  found  in 
those  ten  clergymen  who  met  at  Woodbury  in 
1783,  "  Men  that  had  understanding  of  the  times." 
And  is  it  not  always  somewhat  after  this  sort,  when 
any  great  step  is  to  be  taken,  and  there  are  mani- 
fold difficulties  in  the  way }  Do  not  men  dwell  on 
the  difficulties,  and  exaggerate  the  dangers,  and 
suggest  expedients  and  makeshifts,  till  some  one, 
without  fuss  or  noise,  takes  the  step,  and  lo !  the 
mountain  has  been  levelled  and  the  way  lies  open } 
Depend  upon  it,  there  is  a  wealth  of  wisdom  in 
these  simple  lines  : 


Conve7ition  Sermo7i,  1883.  21 

"  From  an  old  English  parsonage  down  by  the  sea, 
There  came  in  the  twilight  a  message  to  me  ; 
Its  quaint  Saxon  legend  deeply  engraven, 
Hath,  as  it  seems  to  me,  teaching  from  heaven; 
And  all  through  the  hours  the  quiet  words  ring, 
Like  a  low  inspiration  :  'Doe  the  nexte  thynge.' " 

And  what  the  next  thing  was  for  this  Church  when 
these  western  colonies  became  a  nation,  we  have 
ah'eady  seen. 

The  need  of  some  decided  and  vigorous  action 
was  made  more  obvious  by  the  fact  that  one  of 
those  makeshifts,  just  alluded  to,  by  which  difficul- 
ties are  evaded  and  not  met,  had  been  proposed  in 
the  emergency,  and  was  not  unlikely  to  be  adopted. 
In  the  summer  of  1782  a  pamphlet  had  been  pub- 
lished in  Philadelphia,  the  author  of  which,  im- 
pressed with  "  the  impossibility  and  present  unde- 
sirableness  of  attempting  to  obtain  the  Episcopate 
from  England,"  proposed  "  the  combining  of  the 
clergy  and  of  representatives  of  the  congregations  in 
convenient  districts  with  a  representative  body  of  the 
whole."  This  representative  body  was  to  issue  "  a 
declaration  approving  of  Episcopacy,  and  profess- 
ing a  determination  to  possess  the  succession  when 
it  could  be  obtained  " ;  but,  meantime,  permanent 
presidents  were  to  be  elected  from  among  the 
clergy  with  powers  of  supervision  and  ordination. 
"  An  exigence  of  necessity  "  was  pleaded  in  justifi- 
cation of  this  extraordinary  proposition. 

On  what  possible  ground  an  "exigence  of  neces- 
sity" could  be  asserted  or  assumed  when  no 
attempt  to  obtain  the  Episcopate  had  been  made, 
it  is  very  difficult  to  see.  How  completely  is  the 
fallacy  and  unwisdom  of  the  assumption  exposed 
by  the  clear,  straightforward  words  of  the  reply 
sent  from  Woodbury  on  that  memorable  twenty- 
fifth  of  March :  "  Could  necessity  warrant  a  devia- 


22  Seabnry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

tion  from  the  law  of  Christ  and  the  immemorial 
usage  of  the  Church,  yet  what  necessity  can  we 
plead  ?  Can  we  plead  necessity  with  any  propriety 
till  we  have  been  rejected  ?  We  conceive  the 
present  to  be  a  more  favorable  opportunity  for  the 
introduction  of  bishops  than  this  country  has 
before  seen.  However  dangerous  bishops  might 
have  been  thought  to  the  civil  rights  of  these 
States,  this  danger  has  now  vanished,  for  such 
superiors  will  have  no  civil  authority.  They  will 
be  purely  ecclesiastics  .  .  .  equally  under  the 
control  of  civil  law  with  other  clergymen ;  no 
danger,  then,  can  now  be  feared  from  bishops  but 
such  as  may  be  feared  from  presbyters."  And 
then  they  further  say,  how  wisely !  "  Should  we 
consent  to  a  temporary  departure  from  Episcopacy, 
there  would  be  very  little  propriety  in  asking  for  it 
afterwards,  and  as  little  reason  ever  to  expect  it  in 
America." 

The  men  who  wrote  those  words  grasped  the 
real  exigency  as  they  who  spoke  loudest  about 
exigencies  and  impossibilities  did  not.  They  fore- 
saw, moreover,  with  the  intuition  of  true  wisdom, 
the  danger  of  resorting  to  the  temporary  expedient 
that  had  been  proposed.  For,  in  truth,  all  history 
proves  that  such  expedients  and  makeshifts  always 
exhibit  a  tendency  to  become  permanent,  and  very 
soon  challenge  for  themselves  a  character,  as  legiti- 
mate and  ultimate,  which  is  not  claimed  for  them 
when  they  are  adopted.  Then  that  thing,  what- 
ever it  may  be,  to  which  they  profess  to  lead  men 
up,  drops  out  of  sight,  and  they  themselves  fill  the 
field  of  vision.  Had  the  plan  of  the  Philadelphia 
pamphlet  been  adopted,  such  I  fully  believe,  such 
the  clergy  of  Woodbury  believed,  must  inevitably 


Convention  Sermon,  1883.  23 

have  been  the  result.  That  it  was  not  adopted, 
that  the  dangers  inherent  in  it  were  avoided,  was 
largely  owing  to  the  action  of  the  day  which  we 
commemorate. 

In  what  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity  of  heart 
they  took  the  step  that  lay  right  before  them,  met 
tlie'  difficulty  from  which  others  shrank,  did  "  the 
next  thing,"  and,  therefore,  wrought  for  a  marvel- 
lous future!  Says  a  thoughtful  writer:^  "Men  of 
ambitious  imaginations  retire  into  their  study  and 
devise  some  magnum  opus  which,  like  the  world 
itself,  is  to  be  created  out  of  nothing,  and  to  hang 
self-balaticed  on  its  own  centre ;  after  much  puffing, 
however,  the  world  which  they  produce  is  apt  to 
turn  out  but  a  well-sized  bubble.  Men  of  another 
order  labor  but  to  provide  for  some  practical  need; 
and  their  work,  humble,  perhaps  occasional,  in  its 
design,  is  found  to  contain  the  elements  that  make 
human  toils  indestructible." 

It  was  fortunate  for  all  who  were  to  come  after 
them  that  those  men  of  whom  I  speak  were  no 
dreamers  or  doctrinaires,  and  rode  no  "half-sad- 
dled hobbies  "  of  their  own  construction.  They  did 
not  undertake  to  formulate  a  creed  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  the  American  mind  and  the  demands  of 
the  eighteenth  century;  they  had  that  which  was 
for  every  mind  and  all  time,  in  the  One  "  Faith 
once  delivered  to  the  Saints."  They  did  not  attempt 
to  compose  a  Liturgy  or  Forms  for  Sacred  Rites 
and  Services;  these  they  also  had,  capable  (doubt- 
less) of  adaptation  and  change  "  according  to  the 
diversity  of  countries,  times,  and  men's  manners," 
but  still  complete  for  all  purposes  of  worship  or 
ministration,  being,  indeed,  the  growth  of  all  the 

^  Aubrey  de  Vere,  Sketches  in  Greece  and  Turkey. 


24  Seabury  Ceiitenaiy — Connecticut. 

Christian  ages.  They  did  not  set  themselves  to 
create  a  new  Church,  or  even  to  reason  out  just 
what  might  possibly  be  dispensed  with  here  or 
omitted  there  because  of  "  the  present  distress  " ; 
all  they  had  to  do,  in  that  little  secluded  room 
w^here  they  were  assembled,  was  to  provide  what 
was  lacking  in  that  organization  which  they  had 
received ;  even  as  in  that  secluded  "  upper  room  " 
in  Jerusalem  where  the  eleven  were  assembled  with 
the  disciples,  the  vacant  place  in  the  Apostolate 
was  filled  up  in  anticipation  of  the  mighty  Pente- 
costal gift.  And  because  they  were  humble  enough, 
and  therefore  wise  enough,  to  do  just  what  they 
did,  they  "  builded  better  than  they  knew";  builded 
on  that  only  foundation  that  can  be  laid,  even 
Jesus  Christ;  builded,  also,  as  "wise  master-build- 
ers," not  with  the  "  wood,  hay,  stubble  "  of  man's 
gathering,  but  with  the  "gold,  silver,  precious 
stones  "  of  the  "  New  Jerusalem  that  cometh  down 
from  heaven." 

There  is  another  thought  that  ought  not  be 
passed  by.  Says  an  old  Father,  speaking  of  the 
Episcopate:  '' Nomen  oneris  non  honoris'' \  "It  is 
the  name  of  a  burden  rather  than  of  an  honor." 
So  here,  the  question  was  not,  To  whom  shall  we 
give  the  honor  .?^  but.  Who  can  best  take  up  and 
bear  the  burden }  And  what  a  burden  it  was ! 
The  wearisome  quest  for  consecration,  sure  to  be 
protracted  and  doubtful  as  to  its  result ;  the  insuffi- 
cient provision  —  if  indeed  any  provision  at  all  was 
made  —  for  the  maintenance  of  the  bishop-elect 
during  the  period  of  his  anxious  waiting ;  ^  the 
return,  if  unsuccessful,  with  the  certainty  of  being 

^  Bishop  Seabury  wrote  under  date  of  Jan.  5,  1785  :  "Two  years'  absence 
from  mv  family,  and  expenses  of  residence  here,  have  more  than  expended 
all  I  had." 


Convention  Sermon,  1883.  25 

told  that  another  might  have  succeeded  where  he 
had  failed ;  if  successful,  with  the  alternative  cer- 
tainty of  coming  to  a  weak  and  despised  Church, 
poor  in  this  world's  goods  and  "everywhere  spoken 
against  "  ;  the  life-long  struggle  with  its  tremendous 
uncertainties;  surely,  he  who  should  undertake  the 
burden  of  these  things  and  many  more  besides,  would 
need  not  only  the  "  robur  ct  acs  triplex  circa  pectus  " 
of  the  heathen  poet,  but  the  faith  that  "  could 
remove  mountains "  also.  Who  was  to  be  the 
man  ? 

"  All  eyes  were  turned  to  the  venerable  Jeremiah 
Leaming,  who  had  defended  the  Church  with  his 
pen,  and  suffered  for  her  in  mind,  body,  and  estate," 
and  he  was  the  first  choice  of  the  clergy  at  Wood- 
bury. It  was  felt,  however,  that  his  acceptance 
was  doubtful,  and  the  difficulties  which  might  pre- 
vent it  were  fully  recognized.  The  original  draught 
of  the  letter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
places  the  election  and  the  recognition  of  the  diffi- 
culties attending  it  beyond  all  doubt,  by  a  passage, 
which,  when  Leaming  declined  the  undertaking, 
was,  of  course,  omitted.  These  are  the  words : 
*'  His  age  and  infirmities,  we  confess,  were  objec- 
tions on  his  part  we  felt  the  force  of.  His  yielding 
to  our  desires,  to  encounter  the  fatigues  and  dan- 
gers of  such  a  voyage,  which  (free  from  all  motives 
for  personal  ambition,  for  which  in  our  situation 
there  is  very  little  temptation)  nothing  but  a  zeal 
almost  primitive  would  lead  him  to  do,  much  the 
more  endears  him  to  us.  He  is  indeed  a  tried 
servant  of  the  Church,  and  bears  about  him  in  a 
degree  the  marks  of  a  Confessor."^ 

'  That  Leaming  was  the  first  choice  of  the  clergy  at  Woodbury  has  been 
questioned.     But  three  things  put  it  beyond  doubt:  (i)  The  original  letter 

3 


26  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

Learning  was  not  there  to  speak  for  himself ;  and 
the  contingency  of  his  declining  to  accept  the  bur- 
den was  too  pressing  not  to  be  provided  against. 
Wherefore  another  was  designated,  one  whose 
name  is  forever  shrined  in  the  deep  love  and  rever- 
ence of  this  Diocese,  and  held  in  grateful  remem- 
brance in  this  Church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Seabury.  Who  doubts  that  in  this  tvro-fold  desig- 
nation earnest  prayer  v/as  made  to  Him  "Who 
knoweth  the  hearts  of  all  men "  ?  Wlio  doubts 
that  though  no  lots  v\'ere  cast,  it  was  left  to  the 
ordering  of  Providence  to  "  show  whether  of  those 
tvv'O  the  Lord  had  chosen  " }  That  ordering,  as  we 
all  know,  laid  the  burden  upon  Seabury.  The 
bra\'e  step  was  taken,  the  venture  of  faith  was 
made.  God  provided  the  man  to  assume  the 
weighty  charge ;  and  for  that  and  all  that  came  of 
it,  we  offer  him  to-day  "  high  laud  and  hearty 
thanks." 

The  same  wise  and  prudent  forecast  which  pro- 
vided against  one  possible  contingency  provided 
also  against  another,  and  in  its  provision  exhibited 
a  truer  comprehension  of  what  the  Church  of 
Christ,  as  a  spiritual  Kingdom,  really  was  than  any 
statesman  and  many  prelates  in  England  seem  to 
have  then  attained.  Says  one  vv'ho  v/as  present  at 
Woodbury,  writing  to  a  friend  who  became  the 
second  Bishop  of  Massachusetts:  "We  clergy  have 
even  gone  so  far  as  to  instruct  Dr.  Seabury,  if  none 
of  the  regular  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England 
will    ordain    him,    to    go    down    to    Scotland    and 


quoted  in  the  text;  (2)  Bishop  Jarvis's  sermon,  preached  before  a  Special 
Convention,  ISIay  5,  1796,  called  to  elect  a  successor  to  Bishop  Seabur}',  in 
which  the  fact  is  distinctly  asserted;  (3)  Bishop  Seabury's  letter  to  Dr. 
Tvlorice,  Secretary  of  the  Venerable  Society,  under  date  Feb.  27,  1785, 
which,  when  read  in  the  light  thrown  on  it  by  the  original  letter  and  the 
sermon,  can  admit  of  only  one  interpretation. 


Conveniion  Sermon ^  1883.  27 

receive  ordination  from  a  non-juring  bishop."^  I 
am  in  no  wise  concerned  to  deny  that  the  thought 
of  applying  to  the  Scottish  bishops  may  have  been 
an  entirely  original  thought  in  the  mind  of  more 
than  one  person  in  England  in  the  years  1783  and 
1784.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  —  for  the  fact  is 
proved,  not  by  unvv^ritten  reminiscences  after  a 
lapse  of  years,  but  by  contemporary  documents  — 
that  this  purpose  was  in  the  minds  of  our  clergy 
long  before  it  could  have  been  conceived  in  England ; 
before,  indeed,  it  was  known  there  that  Seabury 
would  seek  consecration  at  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish prelacy. 

The  line  and  limits  which  I  have  prescribed  to 
myself  in  this  discourse  forbid  me  to  speak  as 
I  fain  would  speak  of  my  great  predecessor.  That 
privilege  will  belong  to  the  preacher  of  next  year. 
But  I  may  say,  and  I  say  it  with  all  reverence,  that 
if  ever  in  our  eventful  history  the  guiding  hand  of 
God  appears,  it  seems  to  me  to  manifest  itself  in 
the  election  of  our  first  bishop.  Doubtless  brave 
men  lived  before  Agamemnon,  but  Agamemnon 
was  not  the  less  brave  for  that.  Doubtless  there 
were  strong  men  and  true  men  here  before  Seabury 
—  had  there  not  been,  there  would  have  been  no 
place  for  him  —  but  there  was  none  stronger  and 
none  truer  than  himself.  He  was  misrepresented 
by  some  and  misunderstood  by  others  in  his  life- 
time. He  has  been  misunderstood  and  misrepre- 
sented since.  But  all  that  is  over.  Thanks  to  his 
careful  biographer  and  to  his  own  unstudied  reve- 
lations of  himself,  men  know  him  better  now.  The 
voice  of  detraction  is  silent,  and  there  are  none  to 


1  Letter  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Fogg  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker ;   Connecti- 
cut Church  Documents^  ii.  213. 


28  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 


contradict  us  when  \ve  say  of  him:  "His  body  is 
buried  in  peace,  but  his  name  liveth  forevermore." 

My  brethren,  we  shall  have  lingered  to  little  pur- 
pose among  these  memories  of  the  past,  unless  we 
take  aw^ay  wdth  us  something  for  the  present  hour 
with  its  duties  and  responsibilities.  Two  thoughts 
seem  to  me  to  rise  prominently  to  view  from  the 
survey  Vv^e  have  been  making;  two  voices  speak  to 
us  from  those  past  years. 

First  we  learn  the  lesson  —  it  has  already  been 
spoken  of  —  that  only  by  the  true-hearted  and 
faithful  discharge  of  the  lowly  duty,  can  we  rise  up 
to,  or  make  real,  the  lofty  aim.  Said  pious  George 
Herbert : 

"  Pitch  thy  behaviour  1o\y,  thy  projects  high, 
So  shalt  thou  humble  and  magnanimous  be." 

The  roots  and  foundations  of  all  great  things,  in 
nature  or  in  the  buildings  that  man  rears,  lie  under- 
ground and  out  of  sight.  Thoughtless  gazers  may 
think  little  of  them ;  but  no  towering  oak,  no 
stately  temple,  can  stand  without  them.  Above 
all,  in  the  Church  of  God,  he  who  works  on.  any 
other  rule  than  this  will  lose  his  labor,  it  may  be 
will  lose  himself,  and  find  written  at  last  over  his 
most  cherished  plans  the  Vv'oeful  words :  "  All  is 
vanitv." 

Another  thought  presents  itself,  another  voice  is 
heard  full  of  the  inspiration  of  faith  and  hope,  tell- 
ing us  of  the  abiding  presence  of  the  Lord  with 
His  Church,  carrvins:  us  back  to  those  two  unfail- 
ing  promises :  "  I  will  pray  the  Father  and  He  shall 
give  you  another  Comforter  that  He  may  abide 
with  you  forever " ;  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  ahvay, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world  !  "  In  very  truth, 
in  that  day  of  doubt  and  dism^ay  this  Church  was 


Convention  Sermon,  1883. 


"  as  a  cottage  in  a  vineyard,  as  a  lodge  in  a  garden 
of  cucumbers,  as  a  besieged  city."  To-day  we  look 
upon  her  as  "  she  hath  sent  out  her  boughs  unto 
the  sea  and  her  branches  unto  the  river,''  and  we 
bless  God  for  the  greatness  of  "  His  goodness  "  and 
the  greatness  of  "  His  beauty." 

Do  we  rejoice,  dear  brethren,  in  all  this  with 
trembling?  Do  we  seem  to  hear,  from  the  not  dis- 
tant horizon,  the  muttering  of  storms  which  are 
gathering  around  us  and  may  burst  upon  us  ?  Do 
we  see  tokens  not  only  of  assault  from  without,  but 
of  betrayal  from  within  ?  Then  let  us  take  courage 
from  our  past ;  let  us  do  what  those  who  went 
before  us  did;  let  us,  like  them,  "keep  that  which 
is  committed  to  our  trust " ;  and  if  "  evil  men  and 
seducers  wax  worse  and  worse,  deceiving  and  being 
deceived,"  let  us,  as  they  did,  ''continue  in  the 
things  which  we  have  learned,  knowing  of  whom 
we  have  learned  them." 

And  finally,  let  us  give  these  thoughts  —  the 
lesson  of  the  one  and  the  inspiration,  not  without 
warning,  of  the  other  —  shape  and  utterance  in 
the  prayer,  more  full  of  meaning  to  us  than  it  could 
have  been  to  the  people  of  the  elder  covenant: 

"  The  Lord  our  God  be  with  us  as  He  was  with 
our  fathers;  let  Him  not  leave  us  nor  forsake  us; 
that  He  may  incline  our  hearts  unto  Him,  to  walk 
in  all  his  ways,  and  to  keep  His  commandments, 
and  His  statutes,  and  His  judgments  which  He 
commanded  our  fathers." 

The  Bishop  then  proceeded  with  the  Communion-office, 
being  assisted  in  the  service  by  the  Rev.  William  Jones 
Seabury,  D.D.,  Professor  in  the  General  Theological^Semi- 
nary  and  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  New 

3* 


30  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 


York,  great-grandson  of  Bishop  Seabury,  and  in  the 
administration  by  the  Rev.  Drs.  Beardsley,  Harwood,  and 
Seabury,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  W.  E.  Vibbert,  Rector  of  St. 
James's  Church,  Fair  Haven.  Among  the  sacred  vessels 
used  in  the  service  were  the  Paten  and  Chalice  used  by 
Bishop  Seabury  in  St.  James's  Church,  New  London. 


Centenary    Commemoration 

OF  THE  CONSECRATION  OF 

Bishop    Seabury. 
1884. 


The  Rt.  Rev.  SAMUEL  SEABURY,  D.D. 

WAS     CONSECRATED 

FIRST    BISHOP     OF    CONNECTICUT 

AT  ABERDEEN, 

NOVEMBER     14,     1784. 


HE  Diocesan  Convention  of  1884  met  on  the 
tenth  day  of  June  in  St.  James's  Church,  New 
London. 

Morning  Prayer  was  read  at  9  o'clock  by  the 
Rev.  William  B.  Buckingham,  Rector  of  the  Parish,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  H.  Giesy,  D.D.,  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Nor- 
wich, and  the  Rev.  Storrs  O.  Seymour,  Rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  Hartford.  At  10^  o'clock,  after  the  singing  of 
the  138th  Hymn,  the  service  of  the  Holy  Communion 
was  begun.  The  Bishop  was  assisted  in  the  service  by 
the  Rector  of  the  Parish,  the  Rev.  E.  E.  Beardsley,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Thomas's  Church,  New  Haven, 
the  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Jarvis,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
Brooklyn,  and  the  Rev.  James  Stoddard,  Rector  of  Christ 
Church,  Watertown.  After  the  Nicene  Creed  the  Bishop 
preached  the  Sermon  as  follows  : 

THE    STONES    REVIVED. 

Nehemiah  iv.  2. 

What  do  these  feeble  Jews  ?  Will  they  fortify  themselves  ?  Will  they 
sacrifice  ?  Will  they  make  an  end  in  a  day  ?  Will  they  revive  the  stones 
out  of  the  heaps  of  the  rubbish  which  are  burned  ? 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  hopeless  under- 
taking—  as  men's  eyes  looked  on  it  —  than  the 
atten-Tpt  to  rebuild  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple  at 
the  close  of  the  captivity.  For  seventy  years  their 
ruins    had    lain     in     the    condition    which    Isaiah 


34  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 


describes  in  such  impressive  words :  "  Zion  is  a 
wilderness,  Jerusalem  a  desolation  ;  our  holy  and 
our  beautiful  house,  where  our  fathers  praised 
Thee,  is  burned  up  with  iire ;  and  all  our  pleasant 
places  are  laid  waste."  Jerusalem  was  indeed  "  a 
heap  of  stones." 

And  vrho  were  they  that  should  undertake  to 
bring  beauty,  strength,  and  order  out  of  all  this 
ruin  and  desolation  }  A  small  and  despised  rem- 
nant of  a  once  powerful  people  straggling  back,  as 
it  might  seem,  in  handfuls,  from  their  seventy  years' 
captivity. 

Follow  Nehemiah  in  his  lonely  night-ride  as  he 
makes  his  solitary  circuit  around  the  broken  walls. 
Look  at  the  scattered  companies  of  the  re-builders 
as  they  set  about  their  work  ;  so  separated  from 
each  other,  on  that  long  line  of  ruined  towers  and 
bulwarks,  that  a  trumpet  must  be  sounded  to 
gather  them  together,  should  they  be  attacked  by 
enemies.  Think  of  the  sinking  of  heart  with  which 
the  first  stone  to  be  relaid  must  have  been  lifted ; 
think  of  the  scorn  with  which  they  who  hoped 
to  see  the  failure  of  the  forlorn  attempt  must  have 
looked  on  him  who  lifted  it;  and  you  can  then 
make  real  to  yourselves  the  greatness  of  the  under- 
taking and  the  apparently  hopeless  inadequacy  of 
the  means  at  hand  for  its  accomplishment.  No 
wonder  that  the  enemies  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem 
cried,  "  What  do  these  feeble  Jews  }  "  No  wonder 
that  "  Judah  said,  The  strength  of  the  bearers  of 
burdens  is  decayed  and  there  is  much  rubbish  ;  so 
that  we  are  not  able  to  build  the  wall."  No  won- 
der that  the  provincial  Jews  —  as  they  have  been 
termed  —  sent  "  ten  times  "  to  recall  their  brethren 
aiding  those  who  were  laboring  at  Jerusalem.     No 


Convention  Sermon,  1884.  35 

wonder  that  Nehemiah  "made  his  prayer  unto 
God,"  and  said,  "  Hear,  O  our  God,  for  we  are 
despised  ! " 

Taking  up,  as  I  am  to  do  to-day,  the  narrative  of 
the  events  which  followed  on,  and  were  the  outcome 
of,  the  election  of  our  first  Bishop  of  which  I 
spoke  to  you  last  year,  and  which  gather  round, 
and  centre  in,  his  consecration  at  Aberdeen  a 
hundred  years  ago,  I  seem,  as  I  try  to  reproduce 
those  days  and  make  them  real  to  our  minds,  to 
hear  words  uttered  so  like  to  those  which  have 
just  been  brought  together  that  they  appear  to  be 
the  very  echoes  of  that  far  distant  past.  Enemies 
are  crying,  "  What  do  these  feeble  Jews  ?  "  Timid 
friends  are  saying,  "  The  strength  of  the  bearers  of 
burdens  is  decayed  "  —  we  cannot  do  the  w^ork. 
But  brave  hearts  and  loving  hearts  murmured  to 
themselves,  "  Our  God  shall  fight  for  us  "  ;  and 
among  them  all  there  w^as  no  truer,  braver  heart 
than  that  of  Seabury,  as,  taking  up  the  burden 
laid  on  him,  he  set  forth  on  his  quest  —  nobler  than 
the  knio-htliest  of  olden  timics  —  for  that  sacred 
Deposit  which  he  w^as  to  bear  to  our  western 
world. 

How  fared  he  in  his  quest  ?  In  the  answer  to 
this  question  we  shall  find  the  topic  that  invites 
attention  now.  And  first  of  all,  something  must 
be  said  of  the  documents  and  testimonials  which 
he  carried  wdth  him.  These  were,  so  far  as  the 
clergy  of  Connecticut  were  concerned,  prepared  by 
the  secretary  of  the  meeting  held  at  Woodbury 
(afterwards  our  second  bishop),  the  Rev.  Abraham 
Jarvis.  They  are  quite  too  long  for  reading  here ; 
but  it  must  be  said  of  them  that  they  are  admira- 
bly conceived  and  expressed,  and  set  forth  a  much 


36  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

truer  and  sounder  ideal  of  the  Church  of  God  in 
its  obligation  to  the  State  on  the  one  side,  and  its 
spiritual  duties,  under  the  one  Headship  of  Him 
Whose  "  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  on  the 
other,  than  seems  to  have  then  prevailed  in  the 
mother  country.  Two  passages  from  the  letter  of 
our  clergy  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  I  ven- 
ture to  quote  in  proof  of  what   has  just  been  said. 

"  America  is  now  severed  from  the  British 
empire  ;  by  that  separation  we  cease  to  be  a  part 
of  the  national  Church.  But,  although  political 
chancres  affect  and  dissolve  our  external  connec- 
tion,  and  cut  us  off  from  the  powers  of  the  State, 
yet,  we  hope,  a  door  still  remains  open  for  access 
to  the  governors  of  the  Church  ;  and  what  they 
might  not  do  for  us,  without  the  permission  of 
government,  while  we  were  bound  as  subjects  to 
ask  favors  and  receive  them  under  its  auspices  and 
sanctions,  they  may,  in  right  of  their  inherent 
spiritual  powers,  grant  and  exercise  in  favor  of  a 
Church  planted  and  nurtured  by  their  hand,  and 
now  subjected  to  other  powers."  .  .  .  .  "  Permit  us 
to  suggest,  with  all  deference,  our  firm  persuasion 
that  a  sense  of  the  sacred  Deposit  committed  by 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church  to  her  bishops,  is  so 
awfully  impressed  on  your  Grace's  mind,  as  not  to 
leave  a  moment's  doubt  in  us  of  your  being  heartily 
disposed  to  rescue  the  American  Church  from  the 
distress  and  danger  which  now,  more  than  ever, 
threaten  her  for  want  of  an  Episcopate." 

To  the  same  purpose  they  spoke  in  their  letter 
to  the  Archbishop  of  York.  "  This  part  of  Amer- 
ica is  at  length  dismembered  from  the  British 
empire ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  dissolution  of 
our  civil  connection  with  the  parent  State,  w^e  still 


Convention  Sermon ^  1884.  37 

hope  to  retain  our  religious  polity,  the  primitive 
and  evangelical  doctrine  and  discipline,  which  at 
the  Reformation  were  restored  and  established  in 
the  Church  of  England."  And  then  the}'  go  on 
to  say  that,  to  complete  and  perpetuate  this  polity, 
"  an  American  Episcopate  "  must  be  secured. 

How  clearly  the  men  who  used  this  language 
shewed  that  they  fully  comprehended  the  position 
and  rights  of  a  National  Church  ;  the  obedience 
which  "  in  all  things  temporal  "  the  Church  owes 
to  the  powers  that  are  ordained  of  God;  her  com- 
plete independence  and  autonomy  "  in  things 
purely  spiritual  "  ;  and  the  great  fact  that  ]jy  no 
jjolitical  chanQ-es  v/as  this  Church  severed  from  the 
Church  of  England  or  from  the  historic  Church  of 
all  the  ao'es,  so  lono;  as  she  continued  "  stedfast  in 
the  apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  the 
breaking^  of  the  bread  and  the  pravers  "  ! 

The  testimonials  and  letters  thus  furnished  by 
the  clergy  of  Connecticut  were  strengthened  by 
similar  documents  signed  by  the  venerable  Leam- 
ing  and  by  the  rector  and  the  assistant  minister  of 
Trinity  Church,  Neu^  York,  and  others.^  Armed 
with  these  testimonials,  and  bearing  a  letter  from 
the  clergy  of  Connecticut  to  the  Venerable  Society 
imploring  the  continuance,  at  least  for  a  time,  of 
their  stipends,  the  Bishop-elect  reached  London 
on  the  seventh  day  of  July,  1783. 

And  nov/  began  the  wearisome  and  wearing  delay 
of  all  those  slowly-passing  months,  during  which 
the  postulant  for  the  Episcopate  was  hoping  against 
hope  for  an  enabling  act  of  Parliament,  under  which 

^  These  testimonials,  bearing  date  April  21,  17S3,  have  misled  some  persons 
into  the  idea  that  Seabury  was  elected  on  that  day  in  New  York.     This  is  a 
mistake  easily  made  if  one  carelessly  glances  at  the  documents,  but  impos- 
sible if  the  documents  are  read. 
4 


38  Scabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

the  bishops  of  England  might  proceed  to  consecrate 
him  to  the  office  of  a  Bishop  in  the  Church  of  God. 

It  forms  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  enter  into  all 
the  details  of  that  most  unattractive  period  ;  but  I 
may  not  pass  by  the  different  obstacles  to  action 
v\'hich  presented  themselves,  or  were  presented  with 
whatsoever  purpose,  as  those  months  dragged  their 
slow  length  along.  I  know  how  difficult  it  is  to 
carry  one's  self  back  into  a  distant  period  of  time 
and  to  surround  one's  self  with  its  real  circum- 
stances and  conditions,  especially  when  these  are 
connected  with  vrhat  vrere  then  new  and  perplexing 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  relations.  But  I  cannot 
vronder  that,  looking  back  on  so  many  failures  in 
regard  to  an  Am.erican  Episcopate,  and  the  apparent 
inability  of  those  whose  aid  was  invoked  to  grasp  the 
issue  presented  with  all  its  grand  possibilities — I 
cannot  wonder  that  the  clergy  of  Connecticut 
should  have  said:  "We  hope  that  the  successors  of 
the  Apostles  in  the  Church  of  England  have  suffi- 
cient reasons  to  justify  themselves  to  the  world  and 
to  God.  We,  however,  know  of  none  such,  nor 
can  our  imagination  frame  any."  \ 

I  name  first,  among  the  diffixulties  urged,  the  fear 
"  that  there  v»'0uld  be  no  adequate  support  for  a 
bishop  " ;  and  I  name  it  first  simply  because  it  was, 
probably,  the  least.  The  answer  to  it  that  came 
from  our  clergy  W'as  dignified  and  conclusive.  "We 
can  contemplate,"  they  said,  "  no  other  support  for 
a  bishop  than  what  is  to  be  derived  from  voluntary 
contracts,  and  subscriptions  and  contributions,  di- 
rected by  the  good  will  and  zeal  of  the  members  of 
a  Church  who  are  taught,  and  do .  believe,  that  a 
bishop    is  the   chief    minister  in   the   kingdom   of 

'  Address  of  the  Connecticut  Clergy  to  Bishop  Seabury,  17S5. 


Convention  Sermon,  1884.  39 

Christ  on  earth.  ...  A  bishop  in  Connecticut 
must,  in  some  degree,  be  of  the  primitive  style. 
With  patience,  and  a  share  of  primitive  zeal,  he 
must  rest  for  support  on  the  Church  which  he 
serves,  unornamented  with  temporal  dignity,  and 
without  the  props  of  secular  power."  Whether  the 
English  prelacy  did  or  did  not  grasp,  and  acquiesce 
in,  this  ideal  of  a  bishop  and  his  office,  I  cannot 
find  that  they  pressed  this  objection  further. 

A  second'  obstacle  was  thus  expressed :  "  It 
would  be  sending  a  bishop  to  Connecticut,  which 
they  [the  bishops  of  England]  have  no  right  to  do 
without  the  consent  of  the  State,  and  such  a  bishop 
would  not  be  received  in  Connecticut."  The  phrase 
"  consent  of  the  State  "  is  ambiguous.  It  may  re- 
fer to  the  Continental  Congress  or  to  the  authori- 
ties of  the  particular  State  concerned.  If,  however, 
there  were  any  who  gave  to  the  phrase  the  first 
of  these  interpretations,  they  appear  to  have  speedily 
abandoned  it  and  to  have  adopted  the  second.  Ap- 
parently they  supposed  that  the  civil  authority  in 
Connecticut  might  claim  the  right,  and  exercise 
the  power,  to  forbid  a  bishop  to  come  within  the 
limits  of  the  State,  and  to  set  him  adrift  with  "  the 
wide  world  before  him  v/here  to  choose,"  a  veritable 
bishop  in  pa^^tibus,  without  home,  habitation,  or 
name.  There  can  belittle  doubt  that  these  fancies 
were  pressed  by,  if  they  did  not  originate  with,  per- 
sons belonging  to  the  so-called  "Standing  Order" 
in  New  England,  under  the  lead  of  a  prominent 
minister  in  Connecticut. 

To  meet  the  difficulty,  it  was  stated  that  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Convention  of  the  clergy  of  Connec- 
ticut had  consulted  with  leading  members  of  both 
Houses  of  Assembly  touching  the  "  need,  the  pro- 


40  Seabiiry  Centenary — Conneciictit. 

priety,  or  the  prudence  of  an  application  to  govern- 
ment for  the  admission  of  a  bishop  into  the  State," 
and  that  the  result  of  the  conference  showed  that 
no  such  Act  was  needed,  inasmuch  as  the  Assem- 
bly had  already  given  all  needful  "  legal  rights  and 
powers  "  to  all  bodies  of  Christians  of  whatever 
name,  and,  therefore,  to  the  Church  among  them  ; 
that,  if  not  needed,  there  could  be  no  propriety  in 
applying  for  it ;  and,  finally,  that  any  such  applica- 
tion would  be  imprudent  and  unwise,  in  that  "  there 
were  some  who  would  oppose  it,  and  v;ould  labor 
to  excite  opposition  among  the  people,  w4io,  if  un- 
alarrned  by  any  jealousies,  would  probably  remain 
quiet."  How  far  these  wise  and  reasonable  conclu- 
sions commended  themselves  to  the  bishops  of 
England  I  am  unable  to  state. 

A  third  difficulty  remained ;  and  this,  it  must  be 
owned,  had  more  substance  to  it  than  those  just 
considered.  It  related  to  the  oaths  in  the  Ordina- 
tion Office.  These  could  not,  of  course,  be  taken 
by  the  person  seeking  consecration  ;  nor  could  the 
consecrating  bishops  dispense  v/ith  them  on  their' 
own  authority  ;  nor  would  the  dispensation  of  the 
sovereign  suffice,  even  should  it  be  given,  unless 
with,  at  least,  the  concurrence  of  the  Privy  Council, 
or  —  and  this  seems  to  have  been  the  final  conclu- 
sion—  an  Act  of  Parlianient. 

When  we  remember  how  potent  an  element  in 
bringing  on  the  Revolution  of  1688— a  revolution 
which  had  placed  the  House  of  Hanover  on  the 
throne  of  Great  Britain  —  the  question  as  to  the 
sovereign's  dispensing  power  had  been;  what  an 
engine  of  tyranny  in  the  State  and  of  destruction 
to  the  Church  James  H.  had  intended  to  make  it ; 
and  how  offensive,  if  not  dangerous,  anv  revival  of 


Convention  Sermon^  1884.  41 


it  might  well  appear,  we  need  not  wonder  that  the 
bishops  of  England  should  have  declined  to  act 
under  it,  or  that  the  sovereign  should  have  declined 
to  give  it,  unless  it  could  be  guarded  and  supported 
by  forms  and  sanctions  of  unquestionable  legality. 

All  this  is  clear  enough.  But  what  does  not  ap- 
pear is,  why  a  more  hearty  and  earnest  effort  was  not 
made  to  secure  the  needed  legislation.  No  such  ef- 
fort could  have  been  expected  from  the  authorities 
of  the  State.  They  who  cared  nothing  for  an  Epis- 
copate in  America  before  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
were  not  likely  to  care  more  for  it  after  the  war  was 
ended.  If,  as  they  had  all  along  been  led  to  believe, 
the  idea  of  an  Episcopate  was  offensive  to  the 
Colonies,  it  could  hardly,  they  would  say,  be  less 
offensive  to  the  States  in  the  first  flush  of  their 
acknowledged  independence.  Nor  were  influences 
lacking,  either  in  England  or  in  America,  which 
were  brought  to  bear  in  blocking  that  legislation 
without  which  the  English  Prelacy  declined  to  act. 
It  is,  therefore,  easy  to  understand  the  apathy  of  gov- 
ernment. But  it  is  not  so  easy  to  understand,  and 
it  is  far  less  easy  to  justify,  the  apparent  apathy 
of  those  who,  it  might  justly  have  been  thought, 
"  in  view  of  the  sacred  deposit  commiitted  by  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church  to  her  bishops,"  would 
have  been  heartily  disposed  to  avert  the  dangers 
which  darkened  the  future  of  the  Church  in  Amer- 
ica. What  makes  the  inaction  more  inexplicable  is, 
that  while  these  negotiations  were  pending,  an  Act 
of  Parliament  was  actually  passed  which  enabled 
"  the  Bishop  of  London  to  admit  foreign  candidates 
to  the  order  of  deacon  or  priest,  but  gave  no  per- 
mission to  consecrate  a  bishop  for  Connecticut  or 

for  any  of  the  American  States."     Who  can  wonder 

4* 


42  Scabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

that  Seabury  was,  at  last,  driven  to  say,  "  This  is 
certainly  the  worst  country  in  the  world  to  do  busi- 
ness in  ;   I  w^onder  how  they  get  along  at  any  rate  " !  ^ 

As  I  have  read,  time  and  again,  the  record  of  that 
weary  waiting,  the  story  of  that  hope  perpetually 
deferred,  I  have  always  risen  from  the  reading  w^ith 
the  profound  impression  that  I  have  been  brought 
into  contact  with  a  bravely  patient  and  an  utterly 
unselfish  man. 

Alone  in  what  was  now  to  him  a  foreign  land, 
separated  from  his  family  which  had  been  left  here 
in  New  London,  seeing  his  w^orldly  means  which 
were  "  all  embarked  in  this  enterprise  "  rapidly  wast- 
ing away,  without  any  influence  to  back  him  but 
the  righteousness  of  his  cause,  with  his  very  loyalty 
to  the  crown  made  an  objection  to  him  where  one 
might  have  expected  the  precise  opposite,  he  never 
bated  one  jot  of  effort  —  however  it  may  have  been 
as  to  heart  and  hope  —  but  met  difficulties,  answered 
objections,  dealt  with  obstacles  with  a  brave  patience 
that  marks  him  as  a  veritable  hero."^ 

Nor  was  this  the  persistence  of  a  self-seeking 
and  ambitious  man,  bent  on  attaining  something 
for  himself.  It  occurred  to  him,  not  unnaturally, 
that  possibly  if  the  State  of  Connecticut  v/ere  to 
be  asked  to  give  permission  for  a  bishop  to  reside 
within  its  borders,  it  might  be  easier  to  secure  such 
permission  for  another,  than  for  one  vrho  had  been 

1  Letter  to  Mr.  Jarvis,  May  24,  1784. 

2  A  story  was  set  about  by  Granville  Sharpe,  whose  prejudices  led  him 
to  be  unjustly  credulous,  that  at  his  first  interview  with  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  Seabury,  in  answer  to  the  objections  raised  by  his  Grace, 
turned  abruptly  on  his  heel,  saying,  "  If  your  Grace  will  not  grant  me  con- 
secration, I  know  where  I  can  get  it " ;  and  so  set  off  for  Scotland.  There 
is  no  truth  whatever  in  the  story.  Seabury's  letters,  as  well  as  all  the  cir- 
cumstances, completely  disprove  it.  Nor  does  the  fact  that  Sharpe  believed 
it,  excuse  his  biographer,  who  might  have  known  better,  for  giving  it 
currency. 


Convention  Scrrnon,  1884.  43 

imprisoned  in  New  Haven  for  his  loyalty.  Accord- 
ingly he  wrote  to  his  friends  here:  '  I  Seg  that  no 
clergyman  in  Connecticut  will  hesitate  a  moment 
on  my  account ;  the  point  is  to  get  the  Episcopal 
authority  into  that  country";  and  then  he  went  on 
to  say  that,  if  another  is  designated,  "  he  shall  have 
every  assistance  in  my  pov;er."  These  are  not  the 
words  of  a  self-seeking  man  —  a  man  of  low  ambi- 
tions. But  they  are  the  words  of  a  man  filled 
with  a  great  purpose,  inspired  with  a  great  thought, 
ready  to  do  and  to  bear  and  to  wait,  so  the  purpose 
can  be  accomplished  and  the  thought  take  shape. 
All  is  summed  up  by  him  in  a  single  sentence : 
"  Believe  me,  there  is  nothing;  that  is  not  base  that 
I  would  not  do,  nor  any  risk  that  I  would  not  run, 
nor  any  inconvenience  to  myself  that  I  would  not 
encounter,  to  carry  this  business  into  effect.  "^ 

Nearly  fourteen  months  had  now  elapsed  since 
Seabury  arrived  in  London.  It  was  clear  that  con- 
secration must,  if  obtained  at  all,  be  obtained  else- 
where than  in  England,  and  naturally  his  thoughts 
reverted  to  Scotland.  So  careful,  however,  was  he 
to  consult  in  all  things  those  who  had  elected  him, 
that  he  would  take  no  decisive  step  —  notwith- 
standing the  instructions  given  from  Woodbury  in 
March,  17S3 — till  they  had  been  communicated 
with,  and  their  views  obtained  ;  so  that  it  v/as  not  till 

'While  these  negotiations  in  England  were  in  progress,  an  application 
was  made,  without  Seabury's  knowledge,  to  Cartwright  of  Shrewsbury,  an 
irregular  non-juring  bishop.  As,  however,  this  was  subsequent  to  the 
opening  of  negotiations  with  Scotland,  nothing,  fortunately,  came  of  it. 
It  has  been  said  that  an  application  was  made  to,  or  an  offer  received 
from,  the  Danish  government,  looking  to  a  consecration  by  Danish  bishops. 
This,  however,  is  a  mistake.  No  application  was  ever  made  for  consecra- 
tion in  Denmark  ;  while  the  offer  of  the  Danish  government,  made  through 
Mr.  Adams,  our  then  Minister  to  England,  related  only  to  the  ordination 
of  candidates  for  the  diaconate  and  priesthood.  The  passage  of  the  Act 
of  Parliament,  mentioned  above,  prevented  the  necessity  of  acting  on  the 
offer;  and  fortunately  so,  for  the  Danish  Episcopate  is  only  titular. 


44  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 


August  31,  1784,  that  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Myles 
Cooper.  The  letter  is  creditable  alike  to  his  head 
and  his  heart.  No  word  of  personal  disappoint- 
ment and  vexation,  no  line  of  reproach  finds  place 
in  it.  It  is  the  letter  of  a  manly  man,  too  .strong 
in  faith  and  purpose  to  waste  time  in  complaints 
and  repinings.  He  applies  through  his  friend  to 
the  bishops  of  Scotland,  and  adds :  "  I  hope  I  shall 
not  apply  in  vain.  If  they  consent  to  impart  the 
Episcopal  succession  to  the  Church  of  Connecti- 
cut, they  will,  I  think,  do  a  good  work,  and  the 
blessing  of  thousands  will  attend  them.  And  per- 
haps for  this  cause,  among  others,  God's  provi- 
dence has  supported  them  and  continued  their  suc- 
cession under  various  and  great  difficulties  ;  that  a 
free,  valid,  and  purely  ecclesiastical  Episcopacy 
may  from  them  pass  into  the  Western  world." 

Let  me  pause,  just  here,  to  remind  you  that  this 
was  the  third  time  that  men's  minds  were  turned 
to  the  Scottish  bishops  in  connection  with  an 
American  Episcopate. 

When,  in  1703,  the  Venerable  Society  had  it  in 
mind  to  send  out  to  America  a  Suffragan  to  the 
Bishop  of  London,  it  Vv'as  thought  that  consecra- 
tion could  be  most  readily  obtained  from  the 
bishops  of  Scotland. 

In  the  autumn  of  1782,  one  year  after  the  sur- 
render of  Lord  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  —  an  event 
which  practically  settled  the  question  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  thirteen  colonies  —  the  Rev.  Dr. 
George  Berkeley,  a  son  of  that  great  prelate  who 
sang  of  the  "  westvrard  course  of  empire,"  addressed 
a  letter  to  Bishop  Skinner,  coadjutor  to  the  Primus 
of  the  Scottish  Church,  suggesting  that  the  bishops 
of  Scotland  should  consecrate  a  bishop  for  Amer- 


Convention  Scrnion,  1884.  45 


ica,  and  saying,  "  had  my  honored  father's  scheme 
for  planting  an  Episcopal  College,  whereof  he  was 
to  have  been  president,  in  the  Summer  Islands,  not 
been  sacrificed  by  the  worst  minister  that  Britain 
ever  savv',  probably  under  a  mild  monarch  (who 
loves  the  Church  of  England  as  much  as  I  believe 
his  grandfather  hated  it)  Episcopacy  would  have 
been  established  in  America  by  a  succession  from, 
the  EnQ^lish  Church,  unattended  bv  anv  invidious 
temporal  rank  or  povvcr." 

No  doubt  the  question  thus  proposed  to  the 
Scottish  bishops  was  carefully  considered,  but  the 
result  was  unfavorable  to  Dr.  Berkeley's  wishes. 
Bishop  Skinner  wrote :  "  Nothing  can  be  done  in 
the  affair  with  safety  on  our  side,  till  the  independ- 
ence of  America  be  fully  and  irrevocably  recog- 
nized by  the  government  of  Britain;  and  even  then 
the  enemies  of  our  Church  might  make  a  handle 
of  our  correspondence  with  the  colonies  as  a  proof 
that  we  always  wished  to  fish  in  troubled  waters, 
and  we  have  little  need  to  give  any  ground  for  an 
imputation  of  this  kind/' 

No  one  who  recalls  the  frightful  provisions  of 
the  penal  acts  of  Parliament  passed  in  1746  and 
1748,  which  were  plainly  intended  to  annihilate  the 
Scottish  Church,  and  were  unrepealed  when  Bishop 
Skinner  vrrote  the  words  just  quoted,  can  wonder 
at  the  hesitation  of  the  Scottish  bishops.  For 
in  executing  these  laws  in  days  not  long  passed, 
"  so  vigilantly  were  the  Scottish  Episcopal  clergy 
watched  .  .  .  that  it  v/as  with  the  utmost  difficulty 
they  could  celebrate  any  of  the  services  of  religion. 
There  are  instances  of  individual  clergymen  per- 
forming .public  worship  no  less  than  sixteen  times 
in  one  day The  service  v\^as  often  performed 


46  Seabury  Centenary — Conjiecticut. 

in  farm-houses,  or  in  the  out-houses  of  the  farm- 
house, if  these  were  conveniently  constructed.  In 
either  case  the  clergyman,  the  family,  and  four  per- 
sons were  in  the  apartment,  and  dozens  or  hundreds 
of  others  stationed  themselves  in  as  favorable  posi- 
tions as  they  could,  to  listen  to  the  prayers  of  the 
Church.  Sometimes  divine  service  was  celebrated 
under  a  shed,  in  v^diich  was  the  number  allowed  by 
law,  while  the  people  stood  at  a  small  distance  in 
the  open  air.  At  times,  again,  when  there  was  no 
apparent  danger,  pastor  and  people  met  in  the 
recesses  of  woods,  in  secluded  Q-lens,  and  on  the 
sides  of  sequestered  mountains,  where  the  vault  of 
heaven  was  their  covering,  the  moss  turfs  their 
humble  altar,  and  perhaps  a  solitary  seat  their  pul- 
pit."^ In  very  truth,  so  far  as  the  worship  of  God 
was  concerned,  "  they  wandered  "  —  these  church- 
men of  Scotland  —  '^  in  deserts  and  in  mountains 
and  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth." 

We  may  not  sympathize  with  the  political   scru- 

^  John  Parker  Lawson's  History  of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church,  pp. 
300-302.  See  also  the  Rev.  W.  Walker's  most  interesting  Life  of  John 
Skii2ner  of  Linshirt^  chap.  iii.  To  make  the  general  statements  in  the 
text  plainer,  I  add,  in  a  foot-note,  some  details  which  time  forbade  me  to 
introduce  into  the  sermon.  By  the  Act  of  1746,  "every  person  exercising 
the  function  of  a  pastor  or  minister  in  any  Episcopal  meeting  in  Scotland, 
without  registering  his  letters  of  orders,  and  taking  all  the  oaths  prescribed 
by  law,  and  praying  for  his  Majesty  King  George  and  the  royal  family  by 
name"  was  "for  the  first  offence  to  suffer  six  months''  imprisonment ;  and 
for  the  second,  or  any  subsequent  offence,  was  to  be  transported  to  some  of 
his  Majesty s plantatio7is  in  America  for  life  ;  and  in  case  of  his  return  to 
Great  Britain,  to  suffer  impriso7iment  for  life.'''  All  chapels  were  to  be 
closed ;  and  even  in  a  private  house  only  four  persons  besides  the  family 
were  allowed  to  be  present  at  any  service.  In  1748,  no  letters  of  orders, 
not  given  by  some  bishop  of  England  or  Ireland,  were  allowed  in  Scotland  ; 
and  no  persons  were  allowed  to  otliciate  as  chaplains  in  private  families,  or 
to  preach  or  perform,  any  divine  services  in  houses  of  which  they  were  not 
the  masters,  unless  they  belonged  to  the  Presbyterian  establishment.  These 
atrocious  acts  were,  undoubtedly,  intended  to  destroy  "root  and  branch" 
the  Scottish  Church.  Happily  some  laws  are  so  stringent  that  their  very 
stringency  prevents  their  thorough  execution.  It  should  never  be  forgotten 
that  the  English  Episcopate  unanimously  opposed  the  Act  of  1748  in  the 
House  of  Lords. 


Convention  Sermon,  18S4.  47 


pies  of  the  non-jurors  of  Scotland.  But  any  men 
who  so  possess  the  courage  of  their  convictions  as 
not  to  shrink  from  loss  of  goods  and  danger  of 
life,  and  who  accept  tlie  trials  of  martyrdom  with- 
out posing  as  martyrs  in  personal  comfort  and 
security,  deserve  and  will  receive  the  veneration  of 
all  true-hearted  and  right-minded  men.  And  in 
this  matter,  "  let  all  history  declare  whether  in  any 
age  or  in  any  cause,  as  followers  of  Knox  or  of 
Montrose,  as  Cameronians  or  as  Jacobites,  the  men 
—  ave  and  the  women  —  of  Scotland  have  quailed 
from  anv  de^-ree  of  sacrifice  or  sufterinQ-."  ^ 

1  o  return : — The  correspondence  between  Bishop 
Skinner  and  Dr.  Berkeley  was  continued  through 
the  winter  of  17S2  -  17S3,  but  without  any  actual 
result."-  In  the  autumn  of  1783  —  some  four 
months  after  Seabury's  arrival  in  England  —  a  let- 
ter was  sent  to  the  Scottish  Primus  by  Mr.  Elphin- 
stone,  a  man  of  literary  reputation,  the  son  of  a 
Scottish  clergyman,  in  which  the  follov\'ing  question 
was  put :  "  Can  consecration  be  obtained  in  Scot- 
land for  an  already  dignified  and  well  vouched 
American  clergyman,  now  in  London,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  perpetuating  the  Episcopal  reformed  Church 
in  America,  particularly  in  Connecticut .^^  "^  At 
the  same  time  Dr.  Berkeley  renewed  his  corres- 
pondence Vvith  Bishop  Skinner  in  these  words: 
"  I  have  this  day  [Nov.  24]  heard  (I  need  not  add 
with  the  sincerest  pleasure)  that  a  respectable  Pres- 
byter, well  recommended  from  America,  hath 
arrived  in  London,  seeking  what  it  seems  in  the 
present  state  of  affairs  he  cannot  expect  to  receive 
in  our  Cliurch.     Surely,  dear  sir,  the   Scotch   ])re- 

'  Lord  Stanhope,  History  of  Englatid,  iii.  210. 

-  SiOiUsh  Church  Review,  i.  36-43. 

3  Wilberforce,  American  Church,  p.  205. 


48  Seabiny  Centenary — Connecticut. 


lates,  who  are  not  shackled  by  any  Erastian  con- 
nexion, will  not  send  this  suppliant  empty  away. 
....  I  scruple  not  to  give  it  as  my  decided 
opinion  that  the  king,  some  of  his  cabinet  counsel- 
lors, all  our  bishops  (except,  peradventure,  the 
Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  ^),  all  the  learned  and  respect- 
able clergy  of  our  Church,  will  at  least  secretly 
rejoice  if  a  Protestant  bishop  be  sent  from  Scot- 
land to  America  —  more  especially  if  Connecticut 
is  to  be  the  scene  of  his  ministry.""^ 

The  question  now  brought  before  the  Scottish 
bishops,  was,  as  v/ill  be  readily  seen,  a  different  one 
from  that  proposed  nearly  two  years  before.  Then 
they  were  asked  to  originate  action  and  to  send  out 
a  bishop,  selected  by  themselves,  to  take  his  chances 
of  being  received  by  the  clergy  and  church  people 
in  x4.merica.  Now  the  proposition  was  to  complete 
action  already  begun,  and  to  invest  with  the  Epis- 
copal character  a  person  selected  in  America  and 
sent  out  to  obtain  consecration.  Wisely  did  the 
Scottish  prelates  decline  to  take  the  former  course, 
which  could  only  have  increased  the  difficulties  of 
the  situation.  As  wisely,  and  with  a  noble  recogni- 
tion of  the  importance  of  what  they  clearly  re- 
garded as  the  great  responsibility  and  solemn  duty 
laid  upon  them,  did  they  decide  to  adopt  the  latter. 
Said  one  of  them :  "  Considering  the  great  Deposi- 
tum  committed  to  us,  I  do  not  see  how  v/e  can 
account  to  our  great  Lord  and  Master,  if  Vve  neglect 
such  an  opportunity  of  promoting  His  truth  and 
enlaro-in^  the  borders  of  His  Church."  These 
words  have  in  them  the  ring  of  a  firm  conviction  or 
duty,  and  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  true 

^  Dr.  Jonathan  Shir^ley. 

'^Scottish  Church  Rcviezv,  i.  io6;  where  the  rest  of  the  correspondence  is 
also  given. 


Convention  Serin  on  y  1884.  49 


character  and  position  of  Christ's  kingdom  upon 
earth. 

Still,  ready  as  they  were  to  take  the  responsibil- 
ity, and  even  the  possible  dangers,  of  consecrating 
the  applicant  for  the  Episcopate,  there  were  some 
further  questions  to  be  asked,  and  at  least  one  doubt 
to  be  removed.  They  owed  it  to  themselves,  and 
to  the  Church  of  God,  to  be  well  assured  of  "  the 
candidate's  learning,  piety,  and  principles,"  and  also 
"  to  know  whether  the  proposal  was  only  from  him- 
self, or  if  it  was  a  plan  laid  with  his  American 
brethren,  and  if  he  was  recommended  and  his  con- 
secration solicited  by  them."  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  ample  and  entire  satisfaction  was  given  on  both 
these  points. 

One  thing  —  and  it  brings  out  the  doubt  just 
alluded  to  —  the  Scottish  bishops  could  not  quite 
comprehend.  Says  Bishop  Skinner,  speaking  for 
his  brethren  as  well  as  for  himself :  "  I  should  be 
glad  to  know  why  he  [Dr.  Seabury]  has  been  re- 
fused consecration  in  England;  as  I  cannot  con- 
ceive any  good  reason  for  denying  this,  after  what 
Government  has  already  yielded  to  the  United  States. 
The  Bishop  of  London,  I  presume,  does  not  now 
think  of  exercising  any  spiritual  jurisdiction  where 
the  secular  power  of  Britain  is  no  longer  acknow- 
ledged. And  if  all  the  respectable  characters  you 
mention  would  secretly  rejoice  at  the  establishment 
of  Protestant  Episcopacy  in  America,  even  through 
Scotland,  there  must  be  some  ostensible  reason  for 
their  withholding  that  confidence  and  support  they 
would  otherwise  give  to  this  proposal."  ^ 

Long  years  of  suffering  had  taught  the  Scottish 
bishops  caution,   nor  can  it  be   wondered  at  that 

'  Letter  to  Dr.  IJerkeley,  under  date  of  Nov.  29,  1783. 
5 


50  Seabury  Centenary — Co7inecticut. 

while  they  were  "  keenly  alive  to  the  necessity  of 
preserving  the  Scottish  Church  from  the  odium  that 
would  have  been  incurred  by  any  hasty  or  mistaken 
step,"  they  were  also  "  utterly  at  a  loss  to  under- 
stand why  considerations  of  a  purely  political  kind 
should  have  had  such  enervating  influence  on  the 
English  bishops  as  to  render  them  passive  specta- 
tors of  the  destitution  of  their  American  children." 
Brave  men,  men  ready  to  run  needful  risks  and 
meet  unavoidable  dangers,  are  not  the  men  who  are 
willing  to  be  made  cat's-paws.  How  the  doubt  was 
resolved  I  am  unable  to  say.  That  it  was  resolved 
is  certain;  since  on  the  8th  of  December,  1783,  it 
was  known  that  consecration  could  be  obtained  in 
Scotland. 

Just  here  the  questions  arise  :  Why,  if  the  Scot- 
tish bishops  were  ready  to  proceed  to  consecration 
in  December  of  1783,  was  that  solemn  act  deferred 
for  near  a  twelve-m.onth  —  till  November  of  the  fol- 
lowing year?  And  why  did  Seabury  himself  delay 
his  application  to  Scotland  till  August  of  the  same 
year?  The  answer  is  found  in  Seabury's  own  letter 
of  August,  1784,  already  quoted,  in  which  he  for- 
mally applies  to  the  bishops  of  Scotland.  He  says : 
"  With  regard  to  myself,  it  is  not  my  fault  that  I 
have  not  done  it  before,  but  I  thought  it  my  duty 
to  pursue  the  plan  marked  out  for  me  by  the  clergy 
of  Connecticut,  as  long  as  there  was  a  probable 
chance  of  succeeding."  ^ 

1  Seabury's  letter  to  Dr.  Cooper  of  August  31,  1784.  On  the  back  of 
this  letter  there  is  a  note,  written  either  by  Bishop  Skinner  or,  more  prob- 
ably, by  his  father,  the  Rev.  John  Skinner  of  Linshart,  in  these  words : 
"  Dr.  Berkeley,  in  consequence  of  some  fear  suggested  by  Bishop  Skinner, 
wrote  the  present  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  [Dr.  John  Moore]  that  appli- 
cation had  been  made  by  Dr.  Seabury  to  the  Scottish  bishops  for  consecra- 
tion, and  begged  that  if  his  Grace  thought  the  bishops  here  ran  any  hazard 
in  complying  with  Seabury's  request,  he  would  be  so  good  as  to  give  Dr. 
Berkeley  notice  immediately;  but  if  his  Grace  was  satisfied  that  there  was 


Convention  Sermon,  1884.  51 

The  explanation  was  satisfactory,  and  on  the  2nd 
of  October,  Bishop  Kilgour,  the  Scottish  Primus, 
wrote :  "  Dr.  Seabiiry's  long  silence,  after  it  had 
been  signified  to  him  that  the  bishops  of  this 
Church  would  comply  with  his  proposals,  made 
them  all  think  that  the  affair  was  dropped,  and  that 
he  did  not  choose  to  be  connected  with  them ;  but 
his  letter,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  accounts  for 
his  conduct,  give  such  satisfaction,  that  I  have  the 
pleasure  to  inform  you  that  we  are  still  willing  to 
comply  with  his  proposal  to  clothe  him  with  the 
Episcopal  character,  and  thereby  convey  to  the 
Western  world  the  blessing  of  a  free,  valid,  and 
purely  ecclesiastical  Episcopacy  ;  not  doubting  that 
he  will  so  agree  with  us  in  doctrine  and  discipline, 
as  that  he  and  the  Church  under  his  charge  in  Con- 
necticut will  hold  communion  with  us  and  the 
Church  here  on  catholic  and  primitive  principles  ; 
and  so  that  the  members  of  both  may  with  freedom 
communicate  together  in  all  the  offices  of  religion." 
Reasons  are  also  given  why  the  consecration  should 
take  place  in  Aberdeen. 

To  this  letter  of  the  Primus,  Seabury  replied  at 
once,  expressing  to  the  Scottish  bishops  his  thank- 
fulness, "for  the  ready  and  willing  mind  which  they 
manifested  in  this  important  affair,"  and  giving 
utterance  to  the  prayer  —  how  wonderfully  an- 
swered !  —  "  May  God  accept  and  reward  their  piety, 
and  grant  that  this  whole  business  may  terminate 
to  the  glory  of  His  name  and  the  prosperity  of  His 
Church  !  " 

The  way  seemed  now  to  be  cleared;  and  the  5th 

no  danger,  there  was  no  occasion  to  give  any  answer.  No  answer  cavie.^'' 
Scottish  Church  Review,  i.  113.  In  view  of  all  these  facts  and  circum- 
stances, liow  utterly  preposterous  is  the  gossiping  story  retailed  by 
Granville  Sharpe  ! 


52  Scabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

of  November  found  Seabury  in  Aberdeen.  One 
might  reasonably  have  supposed  that  all  difficulties 
were  now  surmounted.  But  it  was  not  so.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  go  into  details  ;  they  would  simply  set 
forth  a  painful  story  of  human  infirmity  and  self- 
seeking.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  while  Seabury 
was  travelling  northward  a  letter  —  inspired  at  least 
by  a  clergyman  in  America  —  was  sent  from  London 
to  the  Scottish  Primus,  containing  a  personal  attack 
on  the  bishop-elect,  and  warning  the  Scottish 
bishops  of  the  unknown  evils  that  would  follow  on 
his  consecration.  The  manly  uprightness  and  good 
sense  of  Bishop  Skinner  dispersed  these  unsub- 
stantial mists  of  detraction  if  not  of  malice,  and  he 
thus  disposed  of  the  unworthy  attempt  to  injure 
Seabury  and  intimidate  his  consecrators :  "  I  can- 
not help  considering  the  whole  of  this  intelligence 
as  a  mean  and  silly  artifice  of  some  enemy  to  Dr. 
Seabury,  who  secretly  envies  us  the  introducing 
such  a  worthy  man  into  America  in  the  character 
of  a  bishop,  a  character  I  am  fully  satisfied  he  is  in 
every  way  qualified  to  support  with  honor  to  him- 
self and  all  concerned  with  him.  For  if  there  be 
truth  and  candor  in  man,  I  honestly  declare  I  think 
it  is  in  Dr.  Seabury,"  ^ 

We  have  reached,  at  length,  the  consummation 
of  this  more  than  knightly  quest,  this  veritable  pil- 
grimage, the  story  of  which  I  have  tried  to  tell. 
When  I  began  it  last  year,  I  asked  you  to  go  with 
me,  in  thought,  to  a  secluded  inland  village  in  our 
own  Diocese.  Now  I  must  ask  you  to  go  with  me 
to  a  grey  old  city,  the  capital  of  northern  Scotland, 
which  looks  out  upon  the  German  ocean.     It  is  a 


•  The  letter  to  the  Primus  with  the  other  correspondence  is  given  in  the 
Scottish  Chti7'ch  Rcviciv,  i.  111-118. 


Convention  Ser)non,  1884.  53 

place  of  old  renown,  for  it  had  a  name  before  one 
civilized  man  had  set  foot  on  this  northern  conti- 
nent. Did  time  permit,  much  might  be  said  about 
it ;  for  it  was  once  the  home  of  Hector  Boethius, 
praised  by  the  great  Erasmus,  and  in  far  later 
times  the  home,  also,  of  Forbes  of  Corse  and 
Henry  Scougal ;  and  its  clergy  and  people  in  1639 
refused  the  "  solemn  League  and  Covenant "  until 
it  was  forced  upon  them  at  the  point  of  the  sword, 
and  renounced  it  when  the  pressure  was  withdrawn. 
It  is  sometimes  called  "the  city  of  Bon-Accord," 
from  the  legend  of  its  arms.  And  that  legend 
must  always  for  us  have  a  higher  than  any  earthly 
application,  for  it  must  always  speak  to  us  of  "  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace."  Nor 
ought  another  thing  to  be  forgotten  to-day.  The 
first  place  in  which  a  clergyman  in  English  orders 
ever  officiated  in  Connecticut  —  as  a  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England  —  was  here  in  New  London, 
destined  to  be  the  home  of  our  first  bishop ;  and 
that  clergyman  was  the  Rev.  George  Keith,  a  native 
of  Aberdeen.  ^ 

Passing  into  the  part  of  New  Aberdeen  known 
as  the  Long  Acre,  and  ascending  to  "  a  large  upper 
room  "  in  the  house  occupied  by  the  Coadjutor- 
Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  we  find  ourselves  in  the 
midst  of  a  large  congregation  of  the  clergy  and  the 
faithful  and  in  the  presence  of  the  three  officiating 
prelates.  Two ^  are  men  far  on  in  years;  one'^  is 
in  the  full  maturity  of  his  manhood,  and  to  him  is 
committed  the  office  of  the  preacher.     As  the  ser- 

'  He  was  the  guest  of  the  Rev.  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  minister  of  the  town,  who 
afterwards  presided  at  the  discussion  in  the  Library  of  Yale  College  in  1722. 
The  service  in  New  London  was  Sept.  13,  1702. 

'■^Robert  Kilgour,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  and  Arthur  Petrie,  Bishop  of 
Moray. 

^  John  Skinner,  Coadjutor  of  Aberdeen. 
5* 


54  ,Seabnry  Centenary — Cojmectictit. 

mon  ends,  we  hear  the  words  of  the  concluding 
verses  of  the  ninetieth  Psahn,  in  the  version  of 
Tate  and  Brady  —  the  last  two  of  which,  as  we 
read  them  with  the  story  of  the  succeeding  century 
in  mind,  may  also  seem  a  prophecy : 

"  To  all  Thy  servants,  Lord,  let  this 
Thy  wondrous  work  be  known ; 
And  to  our  offspring  yet  unborn, 
Thy  glorious  power  be  shewn 

'*  Let  thy  bright  rays  upon  us  shine, 
Give  Thou  our  work  success  ; 
The  glorious  work  we  have  in  hand. 
Do  Thou  vouchsafe  to  bless." 

The  supreme  point  of  the  solemn  office  is 
reached.  A  young  priest,  who  has  not  yet  seen 
thirty  summers,  holds  the  book  from  which  the 
aged  Primus  reads  the  awful  sentence  of  ordination 
and  the  charge  which  follows  it ;  that  youthful 
priest  is  Alexander  Jolly,  afterwards  the  saintly 
Bishop  of  Moray.  The  imposition  of  Apostolic 
hands  is  given;  the  work  begun  here  in  1783  is 
consummated,  and  our  Diocese  rejoices  in  its  first 
bishop. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  golden  chain  of  the  succes- 
sion that  starts  from  the  Master's  hand  is  stretched 
westward  across  an  ocean.     The 

*'  Church  of  Jesus  Christ, 
The  blessed  Banyan  of  our  God," 

sends  out  a  branch  to  root  itself  in  our  western 
world  ;  a  branch  which  our  eyes  have  seen  "  rise, 
and  spread,  and  droop,  and  root  again,"  until  in  its 
self-repeating  life  it  has  crossed  this  continent,  and 
is  firmly  rooted  on  our,  then  unknown,  Pacific 
coast. 

"  Long  as  the  world  itself  shall  last, 

The  sacred  Banyan  still  shall  spread ; 
From  clime  to  clime,  from  age  to  age, 
Its  sheltering  shadow  shall  be  shed  ; 


Co7iventio7i  Sermon,  1884.  55 

Nations  shall  seek  its  pillared  shade, 

Its  leaves  shall  for  their  healing  be  ; 
The  circling  flood  that  feeds  its  life, 

The  blood  that  crimsoned  Calvary."  ' 

And  here  I  pause  to-day.  Another  year,  please 
God,  we  must  bring  to  remembrance  what  followed 
the  consecration  in  Scotland,  the  newly-consecrated 
bishop's  return  to  America,  and  the  share  that  he 
and  his  Diocese  had  in  organizing  this  Church  in 
the  United  States. 

Here  and  now  it  is  enough  to  have  told  the 
story  -  not  as  it  should  be  told,  but  as  I  have  had 
power  to  tell  it  —  of  his  consecration.  Standing 
above  the  honored  sepulchre  ^  that  holds  the  mould- 
ered remains  of  him  who  a  hundred  years  ago 
knelt  down  in  that  distant  land  to  receive  the  war- 
rant of  his  high  commission  in  the  Church  of  God ; 
in  this  fair  temple,  which  replaces  the  far  humbler 
one  in  which  he  ministered  as  a  parish  priest ; 
beside  that  monument,  which  attests  the  loving 
gratitude  of  a  Diocese  that  will  never  let  his  mem- 
ory be  forgotten  ;  two  thoughts  —  bringing  with 
them  a  thankfulness  too  deep  for  utterance  —  fill 
mind  and  heart  alike:  the  first,  the  thought  of  that 
brave,  patient,  self-sacrificing  soldier  of  the  Cross, 
who  dared  all  and  gave  all,  that  he  might  win  for 
us  the  precious  gift  that  binds  us  to  the  historic 
Church  and  through  it  to  the  great  day  of  Pente- 
cost and  the  mount  of  the  Ascension ;  the  second, 
of  those  venerable  fathers  who,  to  communicate 
this  gift,  rose  above  all  personal  considerations,  and 
put  aside  possibilities  that  might  have  daunted 
many  a  brave  soul,  because   on  their  hearts  was 

'  Bishop  Doane  of  New  Jersey ;  Ficus  Rdigiosa. 

2  Bishop  Seabury's  remains  rest  under  the  chancel  of  St.  James's  Church, 
New  London. 


56  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

written  —  as  with  a  pen  of  iron  on  living  rock  — 
that  charge  to  all  Christ's  ministers  which  compre- 
hends and  covers  all  duties  and  responsibilities : 
''  It  is  required  in  stewards  that  a  man  be  found 
faithful." 


cut    and 
appendix 


HE  Centenary  of  the  Consecration  of  Tlisliop 
Seabury  was  commemorated  in  Aberdeen  by 
services  on  the  seventh  and  eighth  days  of 
October,  1884,  at  which  the  Bishop  of  Connecti- 
a  delegation  of  the  clergy  attended.  In  the 
will  be  found  an  account  of  these  services,  in- 


cluding Bishop   Williams's  sermon.  Dr.    Beardsley's  his- 
torical paper,  and  other  addresses. 

The  anniversary  was  observed  by  the  Diocese  of  Con- 
necticut on  the  fourteenth  day  of  November,  1884,  at 
Christ  Church,  Hartford.  The  Church  was  decorated 
with  flowers  and  ferns;  Bishop  Seabury's  mitre  was 
placed  on  the  right  of  the  Chancel,  and  ?i  facsimile  of  the 
Concordate  which  he  made  with  his  consecrators  was  hung 
opposite.  At  1 1  o'clock  a  long  procession  of  the  clergy 
entered  the  Church,  followed  by  Bishop  Paddock  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Bishop  Williams,  before  whom  the  Rev. 
W.  F.  Nichols  carried  the  pastoral  staff  presented  to  him 
at  Aberdeen;  the  processional  hymn  was  **The  Church's 
One  Foundation."  Bishop  Williams  began  the  Com- 
munion-office, using  as  a  Collect  that  for  St.  Simon  and^ 
St.  Jude's  Day.  The  Epistle  (that  for  St.  Mark's  Day) 
was  read  by  the  Rev.  W.  B.  Buckingham,  succ^essor  of 
Bishop  Seabury  as  Rector  of  St.  James's  Church,  New 
London  (wearing  a  surplice  which  once  belonged  to 
Bishop  Seabury) ;    and  the  Gospel   (that  for  St.  James's 


58  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

Day)  was  read  by  the  Rev.  J.  J.  McCook,  Rector  of  St. 
John's  Church,  East  Hartford.  After  the  Nicene  Creed, 
the  latter  part  of  the  old  metrical  version  of  the  ninetieth 
psalm  was  sung,  as  it  had  been  sung  at  Aberdeen  a 
hundred  years  before  :  — 

To  satisfy  and  cheer  our  souls, 

Thy  early  mercy  send  ; 
That  we  may  in  all  our"days  to  come 

In  joy  and  comfort  spend. 

To  all  Thy  servants,  Lord,  let  this 

Thy  wondrous  work  be  known ; 
And  to  our  offspring  yet  unborn, 

Thy  glorious  power  be  shown. 

Let  Thy  bright  rays  upon  us  shine, 

Give  Thou  our  work  success  ; 
The  glorious  work  we  have  in  hand 

Do  Thou  vouchsafe  to  bless. 

DR.  TATLOCK'S  ADDRESS. 

After  the  hymn,  the  Rev.  William  Tatlock,  D.D., 
Rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  Stamford,  a  member  of  the 
Standing  Committee  of  the  Diocese,  and  during  Dr. 
Beardsley's  absence  its  President,  addressed  the  Bishop 
as  follows: 

Dear  Bishop  : 

The  clergy  of  your  diocese,  assembled  to  wel- 
come you  on  your  return  from  Scotland,  can  find 
no  better  words  in  which  to  do  it  than  some  which 
were  used  on  the  similar  occasion  one  hundred 
years  ago.  "  We  embrace  with  pleasure  this  early 
opportunity  of  congratulating  you  on  your  safe 
return,  to  your  native  country,  and  on  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  enterprise  in  which,  at  our  desire, 
you  engaged.  Devoutly  do  we  adore  and  rever- 
ently thank  the  great    Head  of   the  Church  that 


Service  at  Hartford,  November  14,  1884.  59 

He  has  been  pleased  to  preserve  you."  The  voy- 
age to-day  is  neither  "  long  "  nor  "  dangerous,"  but 
we  have  followed  you  with  our  prayers,  and  have 
rendered  our  thanksgivings  that  He  has  conducted 
you  in  safety  to  the  haven  where  you  would  be. 
We  are  glad  to  know  that  the  voyage  was  more 
prosperous  than  a  century  ago  it  was  wont  to  be, 
and  that  you  and  the  four  honored  brethren  who 
accompanied  you  have  not  experienced  the  old  pro- 
portion of  fatalities.  We  greet  them  and  welcome 
them  with  you.  We  appreciate  most  warmly  the 
courtesy  with  which  you  were  received  — ■  how 
could  it  have  been  otherwise,  indeed  .f*  —  and  the 
greeting  you  have  had  from  those  who  in  this  gen- 
eration bear  the  historic  names  of  Nelson  and 
Douglas  and  Gordon ;  and  that  Wordsworth  and 
Harold  Browne  have  met  with  the  master  in 
theology  at  whose  feet  so  many  of  the  American 
clergy  have  sat.  The  desire  has  at  last  been  grati- 
fied, which  of  late  years  has  been  so  generally  felt, 
that  the  mother  churches  of  Scotland  and  England 
might  have  opportunity  to  receive  and  welcome 
yoii  as  the  representative,  duly  accredited  by  her 
bishops,  of  the  Church  in  America ;  that  one  who 
does  not  seek  occasions,  but  whom  occasions  seek, 
should  speak  for  her  on  this  worthy  occasion  in 
commemoration  of  the  great  founder  of  her  Epis- 
copate. We  believe  that  this  interchange  of 
courtesies  and  sympathies,  especially  between  the 
Churches  in  Scotland  and  Connecticut,  will  gladden 
and  strengthen  both  in  their  common  work  for  the 
Master  through  the  century  to  come. 

If  a  regret  may  properly  be  expressed  on  this 
occasion  of  rejoicing,  it  is  that  the  Primus  of  Scot- 
land and  the  Primate  of  all  England  were  hindered 


6o  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

from  personal  participation  in  an  occasion  which 
had  their  warmest  sympathies.  Seabury's  consecra- 
tion will  always  be  the  poetic  incident  in  American 
Church  history,  and  it  would  have  been  a  sweet 
revenfje  of  time  to  have  had  them  united  in  the 
ratification  of  an  act  of  piety  and  charity  which 
the  predecessor  of  the  one  did  not  dare,  and  of 
the  other  dared  to  do.  Of  that  act  and  its 
momentous  issues  so  much  has  been  and  will  be 
said,  and  more  fittingly,  both  here  and  elsewhere 
to-day,  that  it  is  enough  if  the  churchmen  of 
Connecticut  be  permitted  now  to  say  through 
me,  that  it  is  a  privilege  for  which  they  are 
deeply  grateful  to  have  been  instrumental  in 
bringing  about  the  very  first  movement  of  the 
Church  in  Britain  from  an  insular  to  a  Catholic 
position  ;  in  demonstrating  —  to  quote  the  words 
of  Lord  Nelson  uttered  in  your  hearing  at  Aber- 
deen — "  that  establishment  and  endowment  are 
not  necessary  to  Church  life."  For  it  is  to  be 
remembered  that  not  only  was  there  not  an  Angli- 
can bishop  exercising  acknowledged  jurisdiction  in 
America  before  Seabury,  but  there  was  not  an 
Anglican  bishop  anywhere  outside  of  the  British 
Isles.  Our  fathers,  sending  Seabury  for  consecra- 
tion, awakened  the  English  Church  to  the  con- 
sciousness that  it  had  a  duty  to  the  world  in 
extending  its  episcopacy  beyond  the  shadow  of  its 
cathedrals  and  palaces.  For  this  great  result,  "  so 
far  beyond  what  they  had  hoped  for,"  of  their  wise 
and  holy  enterprise,  we  humbly  adore  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church  on  this  hundreth  anniversary 
of  its  inception  in  the  consecration  of  the  first 
bishop  of  Connecticut. 


Service  at  Hartford,  November  14,  1884.  61 


For  thirty-three  years,  dear  Bishop,  chief  pastor 
of  the  first  American  diocese,  you  have  carried  on 
wisely  and  well  the  work  which  Seabury  began, 
-going  in  and  out  among  us  with  the  pastoral  spirit 
in  your  heart,  of  which  the  graceful  gift  of  the 
Scottish  Church  to  you  is  the  expressive  symbol : 
*'  To  the  flock  of  Christ  a  shepherd."  We  welcome 
you  once  more  to  your  home  and  to  ours  ;  to  the 
diocese  you  love  and  serve  ;  to  the  parishes  v/hich 
love  and  reverence  you  ;  and  to  the  institutions 
you  have  founded  and  fostered.  You  have  been 
absent  from  us  long  enough  for  our  comfort  and, 
as  we  gladly  believe,  for  yours.  Fourscore  and 
four  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  Connecticut 
endured  -to  have  its  bishop  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  Three  months  is  enough  in  the  nine- 
teenth. May  the  twentieth  find  you  here,  v/ith 
pastoral  staff  in  hand,  and  loyal  hearts  and  sustain- 
ing hands  of  clergy  and  laity  all  around  you,  and 
half  a  century  of  episcopal  work  behind  you  —  a 
golden  track  of  useful  and  honored  years ;  and 
before  you  the  large  reward  —  "  not  of  debt  but  of 
grace  " —  for  the  due  use  of  the  many  talents  and 
the  fulfilment  of  the  large  responsibilities  entrusted 
to  the  fourth  bishop  of  Connecticut. 

And  with  this  welcome  to  you  and  your  com- 
panions —  our  representatives  —  we  would  renew 
the  expression  of  the  pious  hope  with  which  a 
hundred  years  ago  the  clergy  of  Connecticut 
concluded  their  address  of  welcome  to  their 
first  bishop  :  "  Wherever  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  shall  be  mentioned  in  the  world,  may  this 
good  deed,  which  the  Scottish  Church  has  done 
for  us,  be  spoken  of  for  a  memorial  of  her !  " 


62  Sea  bury   Centeuary — Co7inecticiit. 


THE  BISHOP'S  REPLY. 

Bishop  WilliaiTiS  replied : 

I  cannot  express  to  you,  my  clear  brother  and 
my  dear  brethren,  the  thankfulness  —  and  I  think 
I  may  speak  for  my  brethren  of  the  delegation  to 
Scotland  —  with  which  your  kind  words  fill  my 
heart.  I  can  truly  say  that  I  saw  no  brighter  day 
than  that  on  which  1  returned  to  my  own  diocese, 
my  clergy,  and  my  people.  And  I  say  this  with  a 
full  recognition  of  the  great  joy  and  gladness  of 
those  days  in  Aberdeen,  the  memory  of  which 
must  abide  while  life  shall  last. 

The  memories  of  the  past,  the  blessings  of  the 
present,  the  hopes  of  the  future,  all  centred  there, 
roused  all  souls,  sank  into  all  hearts.  It  was  a 
great  sight  to  behold  the  Churches  in  Scotland, 
England,  Ireland,  and  America,  together  with  those 
of  the  dependencies  of  Great  Britain,  and  from 
the  islands  of  the  sea,  lands  that  no  one  knew  of 
a  hundred  years  ago.  It  told  its  own  story,  made 
its  own  impression  of  unity  and  brotherly  love, 
"  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 

No  description  can  tell  you  sufficiently  of  the 
warmth  of  our  welcome  and  the  abounding  hospi- 
tality which  met  us.  You  must  have  heard  the 
kindly  word,  and  looked  into  the  beaming  eye,  and 
felt  the  hearty  hand-grasp,  to  make  those  things  real. 
And  far  down  underneath  all,  giving  life  to  all, 
was  the  deep  sense  of  that  communion  in  which 
by  the  fourfold  Apostolic  bond  we  were  bound 
together  in  Christ  Jesus. 

I  have  asked  the  brethren  whom  you  so  kindly 
sent  with  me  to  say  something  to  you,  one  of  the 
past  as  contrasted  with  the  present,  another  of  the 


Service  at  Hartford,  November  14,  1884.  63 

first  day,  and   another  still  of  the  second  day  of 
the  commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

DR.   BEARDSLEY'S   ADDRESS. 

The  Rev.  E.  E.  Beardsley,  D.D.,  LL.  D.,  rector  of  St. 
Thomas's  Church,  New  Haven,  historian  of  the  diocese 
and  biographer  of  Bishop  Seabury,  then  made  the  follow- 
ing address : 

So  much  has  been  written  and  spoken  about  the 
consecration  of  Bishop  Seabury,  that  it  must  be 
well  understood  by  all  intelligent  Connecticut 
churchmen,  if  not  by  all  American  churchmen.  It 
is  quite  unnecessary  to  take  you  over  the  familiar 
ground;  but  I  have  been  sometimes  asked:  "What 
was  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church,  that  her 
bishops  a  century  ago  should  venture  an  act  which 
the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England  declined  to 
undertake  ? "  The  question  involves  an  answer 
which  goes  back  a  century  farther,  even  to  the  time 
when  Episcopacy  was  established  in  Scotland  as  a 
state  religion  under  the  reign  of  the  Stuart  kings. 
The  revolution  of  1688  caused  the  .fall  of  James 
II.,  king  of  Great  Britain  and  second  son  of  Charles 
I.,  and  with  him  fell  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Scot- 
land, as  an  establishment.  William,  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  had  married  his  daughter  Mary,  and  fitting 
out  an  expedition  when  the  people  were  ripe  for  a 
change,  he  invaded  England,  and  seizing  the  throne, 
was  crowned  with  his  wife  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
realm.  The  Church  of  England  took  a  prominent 
part  in  forwarding  this  revolution,  which  was  a 
religious  one  in  its  origin,  and  in  transferring  the 
crown,  on  the  abdication  of  James  II.,  to  the  heads 
of  William    and    Marv.     The   Anglo-Saxon   mind 


64  Seabury  Ccjitcnary — ConnecticiLt. 

combines  with  love  of  liberty  a  veneration  for 
national  institutions  and  traditions.  It  resisted  in 
this  instance  the  determination  of  the  king  to 
render  himself  absolute  and  restore  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  in  England.  Hence  the  English 
Church  as  a  whole  felt  herself  bound  to  cast  off 
allegiance  to  him,  for,  in  addition  to  the  various 
oppressions  which  he  had  heaped  upon  her,  he  had 
sought  in  the  character  of  supreme  governor  to 
force  upon  her  the  adoption  of  doctrines  and 
ceremonies  contrary  to  those  which  she  was  under 
the  most  sacred  obligations  to  hold  and  defend. 

But  it  was  not  so  with  the  Scottish  Church. 
James  had  never  tyrannized  over  her  or  harassed 
her  with  oppressions,  and  therefore  she  continued 
to  assert  her  allegiance  to  him,  and,  of  course,  to 
recognize  the  claims  of  his  descendants.  The 
Scottish  bishops  were  in  the  English  line  of 
succession  from  1661 — wdth  orders  as  valid  as 
those  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  —  but, 
because  they  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  house  of 
Stuart  and  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  nevv^  sovereign  or  to  pray  for  him  in  their 
liturgy,  they  and  their  flocks  were  put  under  dis- 
abilities and  subjected  to  the  severest  penalties, 
without  producing  the  effect,  however,  of  changing 
in  the  slightest  degree  their  religious  or  political 
sentiments.  Three  times  within  the  next  half 
century  a  part  of  the  Scottish  people  rose  in  arms 
against  the  king  of  England  in  favor  of  the  exiled 
Stuart  family,  the  last  formidable  rising  being  in 
1745,  under  Charles  Edward,  the  Pretender,  who 
was  disastrouslv  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Culloden ; 
and  then  the  worst  horrors  of  civil  war  followed^ 
parsonages  and  places  of  w^orship  were  destroyed. 


Service  at  Hartford,  N'oveuiber  14,  1884.  65 

more  stringent  laws  were  enacted  against  the  sym- 
pathizers with  the  Stuart  dynasty,  and  the  Epis- 
copal clergy  were  forbidden  to  officiate  except  in 
private  houses,  and  then  only  for  four  persons 
besides  those  of  the  household,  or  if  in  an  unin- 
habited building  for  a  number  not  exceeding  four. 
For  a  first  offense  they  were  subject  to  imprison- 
ment for  six  months,  and  for  a  second  to  transpor- 
tation for  life  to  the  American  plantations.  Lay- 
men attending  a  prohibited  meeting  were  liable  to 
a  fine  of  fi.ve  pounds  for  the  first  offense  and  an 
imprisonment  of  two  years  for  the  second. 

This  was  the  state  of  things  when  Seabury 
(afterwards  bishop)  embarked  in  mid-summer,  1752, 
for  Scotland  to  attend  a  course  of  medical  lectures 
at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  and  upon  its  com- 
pletion to  proceed  to  London  and  receive  Holy 
Orders  in  the  Church  of  England.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  Sunday  after  his  arrival  in  Edinburgh,  he 
inquired  of  his  host  where  he  might  find  an  Epis- 
copal service,  and  was  answered :  ''  I  will  show  you ; 
take  your  hat  and  follovv^  me ;  but  keep  barely  in 
my  sight,  for  w^e  are  closely  watched  and  with 
jealousy  by  the  Presbyterians."  He  followed  him 
through  narrow,  dirty  lanes  and  unfrequented 
streets,  and  finally  disappeared  in  an  old  building 
several  stories  high,  and  ascended  to  an  upper  room 
where  a  little  band  of  faithful  churchmen  had 
gathered  to  worship  God  in  the  forms  of  the  liturgy 
and  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  conscience. 
That  building  stood  until  a  few  years  ago.  A 
friend  in  Edinburgh  gave  me  a  photograph  of  it, 
which  is  valuable  as  showing  the  uninviting 
quarters  to  which  the  poor  Episcopalians  were 
driven    in    those    days    to    find   freedom    in    their 

6* 


66  Scabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

religious  services.  The  upper  room  where  they 
met  was  acquired  by  purchase  in  1741,  and  the 
tradition  is  that  the  person  who  sold  it,  being  an 
invalid  churchman,  reserved  to  himself  the  right 
to  occupy  an  apartment  on  the  same  floor  with  a 
window  opening  into  it  that  he  might  hear  and 
share  in  the  service.  A  new  church,  retaining  the 
old  name,  St.  Paul's,  Carubber's  Close,  has  been 
built  on  the  ancient  site  with  space  for  future 
enlargement,  and  it  was  my  privilege  to  preach  in 
this  church  last  September,  and  a  very  attentive 
congregation  helped  to  brighten  for  both  myself 
and  Professor  Hart,  who  accompanied  me,  the 
interesting  historic  associations. 

Well,  two  and  thirty  years  pass  away  and  the 
same  Seabury  who  joined  in  the  worship  offered 
there  under  such  discouraging  circumstances  has 
crossed  the  Tweed  and  appears  in  an  upper-room  in 
Long-Acre,  Aberdeen,  to  receive  a  spiritual  gift 
which  for  reasons  of  state  had  been  refused  him 
by  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England. 

The  old  Scottish  Church,  sometimes  called  the 
catholic  remainder  of  the  ancient  Church  of  Scot- 
land, differed  in  no  essential  particular  from  the 
Church  of  England  except  that  she  did  not  lean 
upon  'Apolitical  Episcopacy  —  an  Episcopacy  direct- 
ed and  controlled  by  parliamentary  legislation. 
She  was  now  in  the  lowest  depths  of  depression  and 
adversity.  Her  bishops  had  become  reduced  to 
four  and  her  clergy  to  forty,  and  these  ministered, 
it  is  true  without  molestation  for  the  most  part,  to 
the  little  remnants  of  faithful  churchmen  scattered 
through  the  cities  and  villages  of  the  land.  Prob- 
ably the  feeling  among  outsiders  was  that  the  Scot- 
tish  Episcopal   Church    would    never  again    have 


Service  at  Hartford^  November  14,  1884.  6^ 

much  influence  or  attract  man}^  adherents.  Three 
of  the  four  bishops,  however,  when  duly  applied  to, 
took  the  matter  of  raising  Dr.  Seabury  to  the 
apostolic  office  into  immediate  and  solemn  con- 
sideration and  consecrated  him  without  delay. 
One  of  them  said :  "  I  do  not  see  how  we  can 
account  to  our  great  Lord  and  Master,  if  we  neglect 
such  an  opportunity  of  promoting  His  truth  and 
enlarging  the  borders  of  His  Church." 

And  for  whom  did  they  consecrate  this  bishop, 
but  for  Connecticut,  whose  clergy  with  far-seeing 
wisdom  had  taken  the  earliest  steps  after  the 
independence  of  the  colonies  to  secure  the  Episco- 
pacy —  a  boon  which,  though  greatly  desired  and 
needed  in  this  country,  had  long  been  sought  for 
to  no  purpose.^  The  Church  in  Connecticut,  and 
indeed  in  all  the  American  colonies,  was  at  this 
time  in  a  critical,  headless  condition  —  living,  yet 
on  the  verge  of  death,  and  something  must  be 
done  to  save  and  restore  what  w^as  so  broken  and 
disordered.  I  suppose  there  could  not  have  been 
more  than  two  hundred  Episcopal  clergymen,  if 
there  were  as  many,  in  all  the  colonies  at  that  date, 
and  fourteen  of  them  were  in  Connecticut  minister- 
ing to  weak  and  diminished  flocks  that  had  more 
to  hope  and  pray  for  than  in  human  probability 
they  were  likely  to  realize. 

How  much  did  that  simple  consecration  service 
in  the  upper-room  in  Long-Acre,  Aberdeen,  open 
up  for  Churches  of  the  one  faith  !  If  the  act  was 
not  sublime  in  itself,  it  was  the  beginning  of  a  sub- 
lime history,  and  the  English  Church  thereupon 
awoke  to  a  sense  of  her  duty  to  the  child  she  had 
Ions:  nursed  in  the  colonies  and  now  left  friendless 
and  forlorn,  as  well  as  to  a  more  decent  recognition 


6S  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

of  the  poor,  down-trodden  Scottish  communion. 
The  offensive  laws  which  had  been  for  some  time 
comparatively  inoperative  were  soon  repealed  or 
modified  by  act  of  Parliament ;  and  the  laity,  more 
than  the  clergy,  felt  the  advantage  of  the  relief 
gained,  which  was  fully  secured  to  them  by  legisla- 
tive enactments  half  a  century  later.  The  House 
of  Hanover  was  entirely  accepted  and  prayed  for 
in  the  Scottish  as  in  the  English  liturgy.  Then 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  Scotland  began  to  rise 
from  the  dust,  and  to-day  she  has  seven  bishops 
and  two  hundred  and  seventy  clergymen,  with  a 
zealous  and  hearty  laity  who  are  not  content  to 
possess  spiritual  privileges  without  making  them 
practically  useful.  We  were  all  struck  with  the 
reverence  among  the  Scottish  people  for  the  fourth 
commandment,  and  with  the  spectacle  of  goodly 
numbers  of  every  religious  denomination  going  to 
the  house  of  God  in  company.  I  am  sure  they 
quite  surpass  the  Americans  in  the  regularity  of 
their  attendence  upon  public  worship,  and  a  Scotch 
mist,  which  oftentimes  is  about  equal  to  a  New 
England  rain,  seems  not  to  be  considered  a  suffi- 
cient excuse  for  staying  at  home  when  the  Lord 
invites  us  into  His  sanctuaries.  The  external 
improvement,  or  rather  advancement,  of  the  Scot- 
tish Church  is  seen  in  various  things.  Her 
decayed  and  barn-like  churches  have  been  suc- 
ceeded by  substantial  and  appropriate,  and  in  many 
cases  beautiful  edifices,  and  altogether  she  is  now 
in  a  better  condition,  with  brighter  prospects,  than 
at  any  period  in  her  previous  history. 

But  leaving  Scotland,  how  does  the  contrast 
stand  with  the  American  Church  as  placed  along 
with  her  condition  one  hundred  years  ago }  Con- 


Service  at  Hm'tford,  November  14,  1884.  69 

necticut  has  her  one  bishop,  but  her  fourteen 
clergy  have  increased  to  nearly  two  hundred,  and 
her  parishes  have  fourfolded  in  numbers,  and  more 
than  fourfolded  in  strength,  activity,  and  generos- 
ity. When  Leaming  preached  the  sermon  before 
the  convention  of  the  clergy  in  Middletown  at  the 
welcome  given  to  Seabury  on  his  return  from  Scot- 
land, the  Church  was  so  insis^nificant  in  the  State 
that  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  occasion  m  the 
contemporary  prints,  and  she  was  so  poor  that  it 
was  a  problem  how  the  parishes  could  decently 
support  their  rectors,  now  that  the  stipends  of  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  had 
been  withdrawn.  Seabury  himself,  writing  to  a 
Scottish  bishop  three  years  later,  said:  "We  have 
now  sixteen  presbyters  in  this  diocese  and  four 
deacons  w4io  will  soon  be  in  priests'  orders.  Four 
more  —  i.  e.,  twenty-four  in  the  whole  —  will  be  as 
many  as  the  present  ability  of  the  Church  can 
support.  It  does,  however,  grow,  and  converts 
from  Presbyterianism  are  not  unfrequent."  The 
growth  has  been  so  great  that  at  our  last  annual 
convention  in  this  diocese  the  reported  contribu- 
tions, including  parochial  expenses  and  salaries, 
amounted  to  upwards  of  $620,000,  and  if  there  had 
been  no  omissions  to  make  returns  the  aggregate 
would  have  been  considerably  larger.  If  we  give 
a  moment's  attention  to  the  whole  Church  in  the 
country,  we  find  that  we  have  sixty-six  living 
bishops,  the  list  from  Seabury  down  number- 
ing one  hundred  and  thirty-four ;  and  the  clergy  in 
all  the  dioceses  and  missionary  jurisdictions  must 
be  well  nigh  on  to  four  thousand. 

It  is  in  no  spirit  of  boasting  that  v/e  make  this 
comparison.     "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us, 


70  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

but  unto  Thy  Name  give  the  praise,  for  Thy  loving 
mercy  and  for  Thy  truth's  sake." '  Yet  it  is 
becoming  on  this  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
consecration  of  the  first  bishop  of  Connecticut  to 
remember  that  results  under  God  have  flowed 
from  it  so  vast  in  extent  that  no  human  eye  could 
have  forseen  them  at  the  time  ;  no  human  heart 
could  have  believed  that  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
America,  cemented  in  one  body  and  carrying  with 
united  zeal  her  doctrines  and  ritual  into  every  part 
of  our  great  republic,  w^ould  so  soon  verify  in  a 
broader  sense  than  he  used  them  the  w^ords  of 
the  ancient  seer:  "How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O 
Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel !  As  the  val- 
leys are  they  spread  forth,  as  gardens  by  the  river's 
side,  as  the  trees  of  lign-aloes  which  the  Lord  hath 
planted."  It  is  becoming  also  on  this  anniversary 
to  remember  with  profound  gratitude  that  we  live 
in  an  age  when  happily  persecution  for  the  sake  of 
religion  has  passed  away,  and  when  the  ever  old 
but  ever  nevv  commandment  of  peace  and  love  rises 
above  sectarian  strife  and  projects  its  influence  into 
whole  comniunities  of  earnest  and  believing  souls. 
The  responsibilities  entailed  upon  us  by  our  posi- 
tion and  our  prosperity  are  to  be  read  in  the  light 
of  history,  and  fulfilled  in  the  fear  of  God  and  in 
the  faith  of  "  the  Church  which  is  the  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth." 

REV.  MR.  NICHOLS'S  ADDRESS. 

The  Rev.  W.  F.  Nichols,  Rector  of  Christ  Church, 
Hartford,  and  chaplain  to  Bishop  Williams  in  his  recent 
visit  abroad,  spoke  of  the  first  day  of  the  commemora- 
tion at  Aberdeen  : 


Service  at  Hartford,  November  14,  1884.  71 


He  said  it  would  be  useless  to  deny  that  there 
was  an  individual  pleasure  in  having  this  welcome 
to  round  out  the  happiness  of  getting  back  to  one's 
home  and  one's  work,  as  there  was  an  individual 
pleasure  at  the  honor  the  diocese  had  put  upon 
those  whom  it  had  sent  with  the  bishop  to  Aber- 
deen, and  an  individual  appreciation  of  the  prayers 
that  had  been  offered  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
in  private  as  well  as  in  public,  for  preservation  on 
the  journeyings  by  water  and  by  land  —  an  indi- 
vidual appreciation,  too,  of  what  it  was  to  have 
around  the  family  altars  and  the  church  altars  in 
Scotland  as  well  as  in  our  own  country,  voices  join- 
ing with  those  on  shipboard  in  the  lines : 

"  O  hear  us  when  we  cry  to  Thee 
For  those  in  peril  on  the  sea  " ; 

and  so  he  ventured  personally  to  thank  him  who 
had  so  kindly  spoken  the  words  of  welcome  and 
through  him  the  diocese. 

But  he  did  not  forget  that  this  was  not  a  wel- 
come to  which  he  should  reply  as  an  individual, 
but  one  extended  to  an  embassy  returning  from  a 
sacred  mission.  An  embassy  responding  to  its 
welcome  would  naturally  refer  to  two  things :  the 
one,  the  immediate  facts  and  occurrences  of  its 
visit ;  and  the  other,  the  bearings  of  the  visit  upon 
the  relations  between  the  two  countries  concerned. 
Others  would  do  this  fully  on  more  general  lines  ; 
it  had  been  assigned  him  to  speak  more  especially 
of  one  of  the  days  of  the  celebration  at  Aberdeen, 
and  that  was  Tuesday,  October  7th.  Taking  up 
the  first  of  the  two  things  which  an  embassy  would 
naturally  report  upon,  he  spoke  of  the  events  of 
the  day  —  the  Holy  Communion  in  the  six  churches 
of  Aberdeen  and  in  private  chapels  at  8  o'clock; 


72  SeabiLiy  Centenary — Connecticut. 


the  principal  service  at  St.  Andrew's  Church  at  \o\ 
o'clock,  with  the  sermon  by  our  own  Bishop  from 
Isaiah  Ix.  5  ;  the  two  hundred  clergy  (including 
eighteen  bishops  from  Scotland,  America,  England, 
Ireland,  and  the  colonies),  the  large  congregation,  the 
use  of  the  Scotch  Oflfice  for  the  Holy  Communion, 
both  at  the  early  and  the  later  services ;  and  also, 
briefly,  of  St.  Andrew's  Church  and  its  decorations. 
In  speaking  of  the  photograph  of  the  clergy  who 
were  present,  which  was  taken  at  the  close  of  the 
service,  he  pointed  out  two  curious  facts  about  the 
groups :  without  any  prearrangement,  part  of  an 
American  flag  had  been  taken  on  the  plate;  and 
then  the  only  clerical  descendant  of  Bishop  Skinner 
present  —  the  Rev.  J.  Skinner  Wilson — stood  by 
the  side  of  the  only  clerical  descendant  present  of 
Bishop  Seabury — the  Rev.  Dr.  W.  J.  Seabury  of 
New  York  city. 

He  gave  some  description  of  the  banquet  held 
at  Music  Hall  in  the  afternoon,  and  of  the  speeches 
of  those  who  proposed  and  those  who  responded 
to  the  toasts,  especially  the  toast  to  "  The  Church 
in  Am.erica,"  proposed  by  Dr.  Wordsworth,  Bishop 
of  St.  Andrews,  and  responded  to  by  our  own 
Bishop.  He  referred  to  some  letters  which  those 
who  had  read  the  Aberdeen  papers  sent  home  had 
seen,  in  which  there  was  discussion  of  the  phrasing 
of  the  toast  "  The  Church  in  Scotland."  He  said 
it  did  not  become  him  to  comment  on  the  discus- 
sion at  such  a  time,  only  if  they  should  think  of 
making  any  change  in  the  phrasing  at  the  next 
centenary  it  occurred  to  him  that  "  Scotland  in  the 
Church  "  might  be  tried. 

After  speaking  of  another  morning  commemo- 
rative service,  at   which   Canon   Body  of  Durham 


Service  at  Hartford,  November  14,  1884.  73 

preached  an  able  and  appropriate  sermon,  and  giv- 
ing passing  reference  to  an  enthusiastic  meeting 
of  the  Scotch  "  Free  and  Open  Church  Associa- 
tion "  held  in  the  evening  as  an  accompaniment  to, 
rather  than  as  a  part  of,  the  day's  commemoration, 
he  passed  on  to  speak  of  the  second  thing  upon 
which  an  embassy  would  naturally  report,  and  that 
was  the  bearings  of  the  day's  events  upon  the  rela- 
tions between  the  two  Churches.  In  this  connec- 
tion he  spoke  of  the  sermon  and  the  use  of  the 
Scotch  Communion-oiHce  of  the  morning  and  the 
hospitality  of  the  afternoon,  which,  like  the  hospi- 
tality of  the  whole  stay  in  Aberdeen,  showed  that 
w^hile  the  latitude  of  the  place  was  that  of  the  far 
north  —  it  was  opposite  the  northern  part  of  Lab- 
rador—  the  latitude  of  the  atmosphere  and  hearts 
within  was  most  truly  that  of  the  warm  and  sunny 
south.  In  conclusion,  he  spoke  of  the  unifying 
impetus  given,  both  social  and  spiritual,  and 
expressed  his  belief  that  while  the  embassy  thanked 
the  diocese  for  the  w^elcome,  all  could  before  God's 
altar  and  in  that  highest  sacrifice  of  praise  and 
thanksgiving  with  which  they  w^ere  keeping  the 
anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  the  first  bishop 
of  our  diocese  and  the  American  Church,  thank 
Him  Who  has  purchased  to  Himself  an  universal 
Church  by  the  precious  Blood  of  His  dear  Son, 
that  as  He  was  with  the  ministers  of  apostolical 
succession  in  their  highest  office  to  make  the  great 
venture  of  faith  one  hundred  years  ago,  so  He  has 
ever  been  with  their  successors.  Let  all  realize 
how^  much  of  that  purchase  of  the  Son  of  God  has 
already  been  rendered  up  to  Him  since  17S4,  and 
how  in  1884  we  are  empovv^red  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
extend   the  Church   of  Christ  more  and  more,  not 


74  Scabury  Ceniefiary — Connecticut. 

in  Scotland   only,  not  in   America  only,  but  in  the 
whole  world ! 

REV.   MR.  HART'S  ADDRESS. 

The  Rev.  Professor  Hart  of  Trinity  College  then  gave 
an  account  of  the  second  day  of  the  commemoration  at 
Aberdeen  : 

I  am  to  try  to  give  in  a  few  words  an  account  of 
the  m.any  events  of  the  second  day  of  the  com- 
memoration at  Aberdeen ;  they  shall  be  as  far  as 
possible  the  very  words  which  were  used  in  the 
addresses  which  were  read  and  delivered  there. 
The  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated  at  an  early 
hour  in  all  the  churches  of  the  city ;  and  the  special 
service  of  the  day  v/as  held  in  St.  Andrew's  Church. 
Before  the  service  began,  the  Rector  of  Christ 
Church,  Hartford,  on  behalf  of  a  considerable 
number  of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  Connecticut, 
presented  to  the  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  as  represent- 
ing the  Scotch  Church,  a  handsome  silver  paten 
and  chalice,  to  be  used  by  himself  and  his  succes- 
sors. The  written  address  which  he  read,  prefac- 
ing it  with  a  few  words,  recognized  the  two-fold 
gift  of  a  century  ago  —  an  Episcopate  which,  in 
w^ords  so  often  used  at  the  time,  was  "  free,  valid, 
and  purely  ecclesiastical,"  and  a  Eucharistic  Office 
embodying  catholic  and  primitive  principles.  The 
Bishop  of  Aberdeen  accepted  the  gift  as  a  witness 
of  faith  in  God's  promises,  of  the  love  of  the 
brethren,  and  of  unity  of  worship,  as  well  in  the 
past  and  the  future  as  in  the  present.  He  then 
proceeded  to  celebrate  the  Holy  Communion  ac- 
cording to  the  English  rite,  which  the  Scotch 
canons  now  require  to  be  used  at  all  synods  and 
ordinations,    tuo    other    Scotch    bishops    assisting 


Service  at  Hartford^  November  14,  1884.  75 

him,  and  the  vessels  just  presented  being  employed 
both  in  the  consecration  and  in  the  administration. 
At  the  close  of  the  service  the  six  Scotch  bish- 
ops present  —  the  venerable  Primus  being  still 
confined  to  his  house  by  illness  —  met  in  Synod, 
when,  after  prayer  and  proclamation,  the  record  of 
the  acts  of  the  Synod  of  a  hundred  years  ago  and  the 
copy  of  the  Concordate  which  was  left  in  Scotland 
were  laid  upon  the  table.  Our  bishop  then,  in 
accordance  with  an  appointment  given  him  by  the 
House  of  Bishops  of  our  Church,  presented  and 
read  an  address  prepared,  on  behalf  of  that  house, 
by  the  Presiding  Bishop  and  the  Bishops  of  New 
York,  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and 
Minnesota.  In  it,  after  expressing  their  affection- 
ate regards  towards  the  Scotch  bishops  for  the 
heroic  act  of  their  predecessors,  they  called  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  name  of  Bishop  Seabury 
now  stands  at  the  head  of  a  list  of  over  a  hundred 
and  thirty  bishops  ;  and  that,  though  our  Church 
is  grateful  for  the  direct  connection  of  her  Episco- 
pate with  that  of  the  Church  of  England,  she  is 
glad  to  remember  that,  through  Bishop  Seabury, 
the  Scotch  succession  has  been  transmitted  to 
every  bishop  consecrated  in  this  land  and  will  be 
so  transmitted  to  the  end  of  time.  They  also 
expressed  our  Church's  gratitude  for  the  shaping 
of  her  office  of  the  Holy  Communion  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  it  in  harmony  with  the  primitive 
liturgies.  And  so,  offering  warm  thanks  for  offices 
rendered,  for  sympathy  expressed,  and  for  examples 
set,  they  gratefully  acknowledged  the  close  spiritual 
and  ecclesiastical  relationship  which  binds  the  two 
Churches  together.  The  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  — 
Dr.  Charles   Wordsworth  —  read   the   reply,  which 


']6  Scabiiry  Centenary — C^tnecticnt. 


was  understood  to  have  been  framed  by  the  vener> 
able  Primus.  It  alluded  to  the  former  sufferings 
of  the  Scotch  Church,  and  to  the  fact  that  those  who 
consecrated  Bishop  Seabury  rendered  themselves 
liable  by  that  act  to  felon  banishmxcnt,  but  that  they 
did  not  count  their  liberty  dear  to  themselves  so 
that  they  might  do  something  for  the  sake  of  Christ. 
It  bore  witness  to  the  catholic  spirit  shown  by  Dr. 
Seabury  and  those  whom  he  represented,  when  they 
confessed  that  by  no  temporal  misfortunes  could 
the  grace  of  Orders  be  affected,  thus  showing  that 
the  low  estate  of  the  Scotch  bishops  was  to  them  no 
offense,  their  poverty  no  stumbling-block.  Then, 
recallincr  God's  favor  as  shown  to  both  Churches, 
the  reply  used  those  words  which  God's  people 
have  never  forgotten  to  use  in  their  joy  and  their 
prosperity — and  in  reading  them  the  voice  of  the 
venerable  Bishop  quivered  with  emotion — :  "  Non 
nobis,  Doiniue,  non  nobis,  sed  Nomini  Tno  da 
gloriamr 

The  Rector  of  St.  Thomas's  Church,  New  Haven, 
attended  by  the  other  clergy  of  the  delegation, 
then  read  an  address  prepared  on  behalf  of  the 
Bishop,  Clergy,  and  Laity  of  the  Diocese  of  Con- 
necticut in  Convention  assembled,  by  a  committee 
of  which  the  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  Haven, 
was  chairman.  It  bore  witness  to  the  fidelity  and 
bravery  of  the  Scotch  bishops  of  a  century  ago  in 
equipping  the  Church  in  our  diocese  for  the  work 
it  has  since  done  and  the  witness  it  has  borne ;  and, 
repeating  the  Vvords  of  the  reply  which  the  Con- 
necticut clergy  returned  to  the  letter  which  Bishop 
Seabury  brought  from  his  consecrators,  acknowl- 
edged our  indebtedness  to  them  and  our  gratitude 
to  God,  and  promised  that  we   would  act  w^ith  our 


Service  at  Hartford,  November  14,  1884.  yy 


bishop  in  maintaining  unity  of  mth,  doctrine,  dis- 
cipline, and  worship  with  the  Church  from  which 
we  received  our  Episcopate.  Referring  to  the 
depressed  state  of  both  Churches  a  hundred  years 
ago  and  to  their  better  condition  now,  we  assured 
them  that  we  still  cling  to  the  ancient  faith  and 
order,  and  that  we  shall  never  forget  our  debt  of 
gratitude  or  fail  to  recoo-nize  and  cherish  the  bond 
of  Christian  fellowship  sealed  in  the  Concordate 
even  as  our  fathers  have  done.  The  Bishop  of  St. 
Andrews  read  a  reply  from  the  Scotch  bishops  to 
this  address.  It  spoke  of  their  special  pleasure  in 
having  Bishop  Seabury's  successor  present  at  that 
time,  attended  by  some  of  the  faithful  of  his  dio- 
cese. It  adopted  the  words  of  the  saintly  Bishop 
Jolly  in  saying  that  Connecticut  is  to  them  all  a 
word  of  peculiar  endearment,  as  the  name  of  its 
first  bishop  ever  excites  their  warmest  veneration. 
And,  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  psalms  for  this 
fourteenth  day  of  the  month,  it  thanked  God  for 
bringing  the  Scotch  Church  to  comparative  honor 
and  comforting  it  on  every  side. 

The  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  then,  in  behalf  of  a 
large  number  of  contributors,  presented  to  our 
Bishop  the  pastoral  staff  which  was  borne  before 
him  in  the  procession  this  morning,  calling  his 
attention  to  the  figures  upon  it,  of  St.  Andrew,  the 
patron-saint  of  Scotland,  St.  Ninian,  one  of  the 
early  Celtic  evangelists,  St.  Augustine  of  Canter- 
bury, as  representing  the  English  succession,  St. 
John,  to  whom  the  Scotch  Communion  office  (and 
with  it  our  own)  is  traced,  Bishop  Kilgour,  the 
senior  consecrator  of  Bishop  Seabury,  and  Bishop 
Seabury  himself.  Our  own  Bishop  replied  in  words 
7* 


yS  Scabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

which  I  will  not  undertake  to  report  in  his 
presence. 

In  the  afternoon  two  papers  were  read :  one  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley  on  "  Seabury  as  a  Bishop," 
giving  a  sketch  of  his  life  and  work,  testifying  to 
his  fidelity  to  convictions  and  his  successful  efforts 
to  promote  peace,  by  which  he  brought  about  the 
unity  of  the  Church  in  this  land ;  and  one  by  Pro- 
fessor Grub  of  the  University  of  Aberdeen,  tracing 
the  historic  connection  between  the  Scotch  and 
the  American  Churches.  The  discussion  which 
followed  was  remarkable  for  the  representative  char- 
acter of  those  who  took  part  in  it  —  our  own 
Bishop,  the  Bishop  of  Gibraltar,  Canon  Trevor  of 
York,  Canon  White  of  New  South  Wales,  and 
Dr.  Aberigh-Mackay  of  Paris  (once  of  Connecticut). 

I  can  do  no  more  than  allude  to  the  crowded 
meeting  at  the  Music  Hall  in  the  evening,  which 
was  addressed  in  noble  speeches  by  the  Bishop  of 
Minnesota,  the  Bishop  of  W^inchester,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Danson  of  Aberdeen,  Mr.  Speir — a  prominent 
Scotch  layman,  —  and  the  Bishop  of  Albany. 
There  was  a  wonderful  unity  of  sentiment  in  what 
was  said,  and  nothing  was  more  noticeable  than 
the  way  in  which  the  speakers  all  referred  to  the 
impulse  given  to  Church  work  by  the  event  which 
we  were  commemoratino-.  There  was  a  marvel- 
lous  inspiration  in  the  volume  of  voice  in  which 
the  great  assembly  recited  the  Nicene  Creed ; 
and  the  dignified  and  scholarly  language  of  one 
of  the  foremost  of  English  prelates,  the  earnest 
and  practical  words  of  the  Scotch  clergyman  and 
layman,  the  touching  eloquence  of  our  great  mis- 
sionary bishop,  and  the  impassioned  and  bold 
utterances    of  the   other   bishop,  who  is    honored 


Service  at  Hartfordy  November  14,  1884.  79 


abroad  for  his  father's  sake  as  well  as  for  his 
own,  all  sustained  and  heightened  the  enthusiasm 
which  had  been  kindled  by  the  services  of  these 
days  and  the  memories  and  hopes  which  they 
had  awakened.  , 

BISHOP   WILLIAMS'S   ADDRESS. 

At  the  close  of  these  addresses  Bishop  Williams  said  : 

You  have  now  heard,  my  dear  brethren,  the 
report  of  the  pilgrims  whom  you  sent  on  a  pilgrim- 
age of  love  to  that  old  city  where  our  succession 
begins.  Visible  memorials  of  all  that  came  to- 
gether in  Aberdeen  in  the  first  week  of  last  month 
are  before  you  or  in  your  thoughts.  There  is  the 
Mitre  which  tells  you  of  the  transmitted  Episco- 
pate ;  there  hangs  the  Concordate  which  speaks  to 
you  of  our  Communion-office.  Across  the  water 
they  have  received  the  holy  Sacrament  of  the  Body 
and  the  Blood  from  the  Chalice  and  Paten  which 
you  sent,  and  standing  here  you  see  this  Pastoral 
Staff  —  gifts  the  interchange  of  which  attests  that 
the  pledges  and  the  gifts  of  that  elder  day  are  not 
forgotten,  but  live  and  will  live  while  time  shall 
last.  The  dear  old  Church  of  Scotland  !  How  it 
has  lived  through  trials  deep  and  wearing  and  in 
the  face  of  "  dungeon,  fire,  and  sword  "  ! 

They  have  kept  this  day  which  we  are  keeping 
now  and  here,  in  Aberdeen ;  they  have  kept  it  in 
London,  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  w^here  the  Primate 
of  all  England  was  the  preacher.  So  has  the  triple 
bond  been  —  I  will  not  say  knit  again,  but  —  recog- 
nized anew.  So  be  it  forever !  I  will  only  add 
what  I  said  in  Aberdeen  to  the  blessed  Church  of 
Scotland,   having    now  in   mind    all    the    national 


8o  Seabiny  Ccnteiiary — Conneciictit. 

Churches  of  the  English  succession,  as  they  are 
all  one  in  Christ:  "  Peace  -be  within  thy  walls,  and 
plenteousness  within  thy  palaces.  For  my  brethren 
and  companions'  sakes,  I  will  wish  thee  prosperity. 
Yea,  because  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  our  God,  I 
will  seek  to  do  thee  good." 

The  Bishop  then  proceeded  with  the  Communion-ser- 
vice, announcing  that  the  offerings  would  be  for  the 
benefit  of  St.  Thomas's  Church,  Hartford,  a  memorial  to 
Bishop  Brownell,  of  w^hom  he  said  that  the  longer  he  lived 
the  more  he  was  impressed  with  the  value  to  the  diocese 
of  the  long  and  faithful  episcopate  of  his  revered  pre- 
decessor. Bishop  Williams  was  assisted  in  the  service 
by  the  Bishop  of  Massachusetts.  In  consecrating  the 
elements  a  paten  and  chalice  were  used  which  once 
belonged  to  Bishop  Seabury  and  are  now  the  property  of 
the  Berkeley  Divinity  School  ;  and  for  the  administration 
of  the  elements  two  patens  were  used  which  were  left  by 
Bishop  Seabury  to  St.  James's  Church,  New  London.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Giesy  of  Norwich,  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  McCook, 
Buckingham,  and  Nichols  assisted  in  the  administration, 
a  large  number  of  clergy  and  laity  receiving  the  Holy 
Sacrament.  Bishop  Williams  gave  the  benediction,  hold- 
ing his  pastoral  staff.  At  the  close  of  the  service  the 
clergy  left  the  church,  singing  the  old  version  of  the 
first  part  of  the  ninetieth  psalm,  beginning  "  O  God,  our 
help  in  ages  past." 

After  the  service  the  clergy  were  entertained  by  the 
Churchwomen  of  Hartford  in  the  parish-rooms  of  Christ 
Church. 

The  following  is  a  nearly  complete  list  of  the  clergy- 
men who  were  present : 


Service  at  Hartford,  November  14,  1884.  81 


From  Connecticut :  The  Rt.  Rev.  the  Bishop ;  The 
Rev.  Messrs.  C.  G.  Adams,  Southport ;  H.  A.  Adams, 
Wethersfield  ;  W.  G.  Andrews,  Guilford  ;  E.  W.  Babcock, 
Nev/  Haven  ;  J.  H.  Barbour,  Hartford  ;  E.  E.  Beardsley, 
D.D.,LL.D.,  New  Haven;  A.  E.  Beeman,Unionville;  J.  H. 
Betts,  South  Glastonbury  ;  Prof.  John  Binney,  Middletown  ; 
L.  P.  Bissell,  Litchfield;  C.  W.  Boylston,  Greeneville;  J. 
W.  Bradin,  Hartford  ;  F.  W.  Brathwaite,  Stamford  ;  George 
Buck,  North  Haven  ;  W.  B.  Buckingham,  New  London  ; 
W.  H.  Bulkley,  Tashua ;  C.  C.  Camp,  New  Haven  ;  H.  S. 
Clapp,  Norwalk ;  C.  W.  Colton,  Pine  Meadow  ;  Prof.  H. 
Ferguson,  Hartford;  J.  H.  Fitzgerald,  Milford ;  T.  B. 
Fogg,  Brooklyn ;  Louis  French,  Darien  ;  E.  C.  Gardiner, 
Nau^atuck  ;  Prof.  F.  Gardiner,  D.D.,  Middletown  ;  J.  F. 
George,  Thompsonville  ;  J.  H.  George,  Salisbury ;  Sam- 
uel Giesy,  D.D.,  Norwich;  Alfred  Goldsborough,  Yantic ; 
J.  B.  Goodrich,  Windsor;  Francis  Goodwin,  Hartford; 
Prof.  Samuel  Hart,  Hartford;  J.  E.  Heald,  Tariffville  ;  S. 
J.  Horton,  D.D.,  Cheshire;  J.  T.  Huntington,  Hartford; 
J.  W.  Hyde,  West  Hartford  ;  Prof.  W.  A.  Johnson,  Middle- 
town  ;  W.  E.  Johnson,  Bristol  ;  J.  R.  Lambert,  Glaston- 
bury ;  W.  H.  Larom,  Stafford  Springs;  E.  S.  Lines, 
New  Haven  ;  T.  D.  Martin,  Meriden ;  J.  J.  McCook, 
Hartford;  W.  H.  Moreland,  Hartford;  W.  F.  Nichols, 
Hartford  ;  J.  L.  Parks,  Middletown  ;  W.  L.  Peck,  Windsor 
Locks  ;  C.  I.  Potter,  Stratford  ;  A.  T.  Randall,  Meriden  ; 
J.  B.  Robinson,  Hazardville  ;  J.  H.  Rogers,  New  Britam  ; 
J.  L.  Scott,  Wallingford  ;  S.  O.  Seymour,  Hartford; 
Brest.  G.  W.  Smith,  D.D.,  Hartford;  James  Stoddard, 
Watertown;  Jacob  Streibert,  West  Haven;  Henry  Tar- 
rant, Huntington;  William  Tatlock,  D.D.,  Stamford;  J. 
A.  Ticknor,  Collinsville ;  T.  O.  Tongue,  Bloomfield ; 
John   Townsend,    Middletown;    R.    H.   Tuttle,  Windsor; 


8  2  Sea  bit  ry  Cen  ten  ary —  Con  n  ecticni. 


W.  E.  Vibbert,  D.D.,  Fair  Haven;  Millidge  Walker, 
East  Bridgeport ;  J.  H.  Watson,  Hartford  ;  P.  H.  Whaley, 
Hartford ;  Elisha  Whittlesey,  Hartford  ;  J.  E.  Wildnian, 
Wallingford;  C.  E.  Woodcock,  New  Haven. 

From  other  dioceses  :  The  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Niles,  New 
Hampshire ;  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Paddock,  Massachu- 
setts;  the  Rev.  Messrs.- G.  F.  Flichtner,  Thomas  Gal- 
laudet,  D.D.,  Joshua  Kimber,  G.  S.  Mallory,  D.D.,  New 
York  City  ;  W.  M.  Chapin,  Barrington,  R.  I.  ;  F.  B.  Chet- 
wood,  Elizabeth,  N.  J.  ;  G.  B.  Cooke,  Petersburg,  Va.  ; 
E.  M.  Gushee,  Cambridge,  Mass. ;  W.  A.  Holbrooke,  L. 
I.  ;  R.  M.  Kirby,  Potsdam,  N.  Y. 

EXHIBITION    OF    SEABURY  RELICS,   ETC. 

In  one  of  the  parish  rooms  of  Christ  Church  was  a 
large  exhibit  of  articles  of  interest  in  connection  with 
the  centenary  commemoration  of  the  consecration  of 
Bishop  Seabury.  They  were  contributed  partly  from  the 
archives  of  the  diocese  and  the  library  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, and  partly  from  the  private  collections  of  Bishop 
Williams,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley,  the  Rev.  Professor 
Hart,  C.  J.  Hoadly,  Esq.,  Jared  Starr,  Esq.,  Mrs.  Dr. 
Starr,  and  others.  Among  those  of  especial  interest  were 
Bishop  Seabury' s  mitre,  of  black  satin  with  purple  strings, 
having  the  Cross  in  a  glory  on  the  front,  and  the  crown  of 
thorns  on  the  back,  embroidered  in  gold ;  the  original  of 
the  letter  on  vellum  from  the  Scotch  bishops  who  conse- 
crated Bishop  Seabury  to  the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  tes- 
tifying to  the  fact  of  the  consecration  and  commending 
him  to  them  ;  fac-similes  of  his  Letters  of  Orders  and  of 
Consecration  and  of  the  Concordate  between  him  and  his 
consecrators  ;  portraits  of  Bishop  John  Skinner,  of  Bishop 
Jolly  who  held  the  book,  of  Bishop  Seabury  himself,  and 


Service  at  Harlford,  November  14,  1884.  ^3 


of   one  of   his   electors,   Dr.  Mansfield  ;    the   manuscript 
records   of  ordinations  by  Bishops  Seabury  and   Jarvis ; 
the  manuscript  records  of  the  convocation  of  the  clergy 
of  Connecticut,  open  at  the  vote  accepting  the  Prayer- 
Book  of    1789;  a   manuscript' fac-simile  of  a  volume  of 
Bishop  Seabury's  journal;  the  sermon  preached  by  Bishop 
Skinner  at  the  consecration  ;  a  large  collection  of  Bishop 
Seabury's  works,  including  one  of  his  loyalist  pamphlets 
which  he  wrote  at   the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution 
under  the  name  of  "  A  W.   Farmer,"  his  charges,  occa- 
sional sermons,  volumes  of  discourses,  etc. ;   one  of  his 
manuscript  sermons  and  two  or  three  letters,  copies  of  his 
Communion-office,  and  a  copy  (in  his  own  writing)  of  his 
Service  for  the  Burial  of  Infants ;  a  copy  of  his  edition  of 
the  Psalter,  etc.  ;  his  surplice  and  two  patens  left  by  him 
to  St.  James's  Church,  New  London ;    his  official   seal, 
still  used  by  his  successor  ;  volumes  of   TJie  Courant  and 
of    TJie   Gentlemaiis  Magazine  with    notices  of    Bishop 
Seabury ;  sermons  relating  to  later  bishops  of  Connecticut  ; 
the  Scotch  Prayer-Book  of   1637  (known  as  Laud's)  and 
its  reprint  of  1712;   Scotch  Communion-offices  of  1717, 
1774,  and  later  dates;    the  proposed  American  Prayer- 
Boo  k  of  17S5  (both  American  and  English  editions),  and 
the  first  edition  of  the  adopted  Prayer-Book  of  1789;  a 
Hebrew  Psalter  used  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  in 
conferring  degrees  at  King's  College,  New  York  ;  a  bit 
of  the  robe  in  which  Bishop  White  was  consecrated;  a 
manuscript  letter  of  Bishop  Jolly's  ;  two  programmes  of 
Yale   College  Commencements,  in  one  of  which  (before 
1784)  the  ministers  of  the  Congregational  churches  are 
Q,d\\^^  pastores,  Vv^hile  in  the  other  (of  1785)  they  are  called 
episcopi;  photographs  of  the  clergy  present  at  the  late  com- 
memoration in  Aberdeen,  and  programmes,  etc.,  relating 


84  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 


to  it ;  pictures  of  old  churches  in  Edinburgh  and  Aberdeen ; 
and  other  matters  of  interest.  Bishop  Williams's  pastoral 
staff  was  also  exhibited.  The  exhibit  was  under  the  care 
of  the  Registrar  of  the  Diocese,  who  was  kindly  assisted 
by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Barbour,  Librarian  of  Trinity  College. 


Centenary    Commemoration 

OF  THE  RETURN  OF 

Bishop    Seabury. 

1885. 


The  Rt.  Rev.  SAMUEL  SEABURY,  D.D. 


FIRST    BISHOP     OF    CONNECTICUT, 


HELD  HIS  FIRST  ORDINATION  AT  MIDDLETOWN, 


AUGUST    3,    1785, 


N  the  ninth  day  of  June,  1885,  the  Diocesan 
Convention  met  in  Hartford.  Morning  Prayer 
was  read  in  Christ  Church  at  9  o'clock  by  the 
Rev.  W.  E.  Vibbert,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  James's 
Church,  Fair  Haven,  and  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Heald,  Rector  of 
Trinity  Church,  Tariffville.  The  Holy  Communion  was 
celebrated  in  St.  John's  Church,  the  service  beginning  at 
I oj  o'clock  after  the  singing  of  the  138th  Hymn.  The 
Bishop  was  assisted  in  the  service  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Beardsley  of  New  Haven,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury  of  New 
York,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Vibbert  of  Fair  Haven,  and  the  Rev. 
J.  W.  Bradin,  Rector  of  the  Parish.  The  sermon  was 
preached  by  Bishop  Williams,  as  follows  : 


THE   WISE  RULER. 

.  Psalm  Ixxviii.  72. 

"  So  he  fed  them  according  to  the  integrity  of  his  heart ;  and  guided  them 
by  the  skilfulness  of  his  hands." 

The  seventy-eighth  psalm  contains  a  rapid  review 
of  the  history  of  the  chosen  people  from  the  day 
when  God  led  them  out  of  Egypt  "  with  a  mighty 
hand  and  an  outstretched  arm,"  down  to  the  time 
of  David.  The  record  of  provocation  and  trans- 
gression on  the  side  of  Israel,  and  of  mingled  mercy 
and  judgment  on  the  side  of  Jehovah,  ends  with  the 
reign  of  the  shepherd-king.  He  who  watched  his 
flock  as,  centuries  after,  other  shepherds  watched 


88  Seabujy  Centenary — Connecticut. 


theirs,  on  the  hill-sides  of  Bethlehem ;  he  who  had 
risked  his  own  life  that  he  might  deliver  his  charge 
"  out  of  the  paw  of  the  lion  and  out  of  the  paw  of 
the  bear,"  was  now  called  "  from  among  the  sheep- 
folds  "  to  the  throne  of  Israel  and  Judah.  He  who 
had  been  "  faithful  over  a  few  things  "  was  made 
"  ruler  over  many  things  "  in  a  kingdom  which  was 
itself  but  a  type  of  a  mightier  Kingdom  wherein 
One  who  was  not  only  the  Son  of  David  but  the 
Son  of  God  should  reign  forever  and  ever. 

In  describing  the  character  of  David  as  a  ruler, 
which  is  done  in  the  text  of  this  discourse,  it  will  be 
observed  that  the  same  qualities  are  emphasized 
that  marked  his  shepherd-life.  What  he  was  in 
the  narrower  field,  that  he  was  also  in  the  wider. 
What  he  had  been  in  Bethlehem,  that  he  continued 
to  be  in  Jerusalem.  What  he  had  done  for  his 
flock,  that  he  did  for  his  people.  "  He  fed  them 
according  to  the  integrity  of  his  heart;  and  guided 
them  by  the  skilfulness  of  his  hands."  Integrity  in 
purpose  and  discretion  in  action  are  the  two  quali- 
ties here  emphasized.  The  former  without  the  latter 
makes  the  impracticable  blunderer;  the  latter  with- 
out the  former  makes  the  time-serving  schemer ;  the 
two  together  make  the  wise  ruler  of  men.  Unless 
I  greatly  err,  we  shall  see  these  two  qualities 
strikingly  illustrated  in  the  story  of  that  Episcopate 
of  which  I  am  now  to  speak  to  you. 

We  must  still  linger  for  a  while  with  the  newly 
consecrated  bishop  in  that  city  on  the  German 
ocean  where  we  last  beheld  him.  For  his  con- 
secration is  not  the  only  thing  which  occurred 
there  that  was  to  have  an  abiding  influence  on  the 
future  of  our  national  Church.  On  the  day  follow- 
ing the  consecration  (Nov.  15th,  1784),  the  Scottish 


Conventio7i  Sermon,  1885.  89 

bishops  present  and  their  American  brother  united 
in  signing  the  important  document  known  as  the 
"  Concordate."  While  this  is  not  the  place  to 
speak  of  it  at  length,  some  of  its  positions  and 
agreements  ought  not,  in  view  of  opinions  then 
prevalent  in  Great  Britain  and  of  events  soon  to 
occur  in  this  country,  to  pass  unnoticed. 

First  of  all,  the  document  opens  with  a  full  and 
clear  statement  of  the  necessity,  "  before  all  things," 
of  holding  the  "  One  Faith."  As  the  Lord  de- 
clared that  on  Himself,  as  confessed  by  His  apostle. 
He  would  build  His  Church;  as  St.  Paul,  when  he 
has  spoken  of  "one  Lord,"  speaks  next  of  "one 
faith,"  so  the  f ramers  of  the  "  Concordate  " —  invok- 
ing "  the  blessing  of  the  great  and  glorious  Head 
of  the  Church  " —  declare  their  "  earnest  and  united 
desire  to  maintain  the  analogy  of  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints,  and  happily  preserved  in 
the  Church  of  Christ." 

This  all-important  and  fundamental  truth  hav- 
ing been  asserted,  the  document  proceeds  to  de- 
clare that  the  Church  of  Christ  is  "  a  spiritual 
society,"  the  powers  and  authority  of  which  come 
from  God  and  not  from  man ;  and  which,  as  they 
are  not  given  and  cannot  be  given  by  any  civil 
government,  so  neither  can  any  civil  government 
take  away. 

Does  this  statement  seem  a  truism  to  us  ?  Then 
let  us  remember  that  it  was  no  truism  in  the  days 
when  it  was  made.  "  The  Church  as  by  law  estab- 
lished "  was  then  a  phrase  on  everybody's  lips  in 
Great  Britain ;  and,  strangely  enough,  it  meant, 
and  still  means,  one  thing  in  England  and  a  very 
different  thing  in  Scotland.  Nor  was  that  all ;  we 
may  well  fear  that  to  many  minds  the  weightiest 

8* 


90  Seabury  Centenary — Cojinecticut. 

and  most  important  part  of  the  phrase  lay  in  the 
words  "  by  law  established "  rather  than  in  the 
preceding  words  "  the  Church  " ;  so  that,  in  many  in- 
stances, a  mere  accident  in  the  Church's  history 
displaced  the  remembrance  of  its  divine  constitu- 
tion, and  led  on  to  the  folly  of  supposing  that  the 
act  of  the  State,  human  law,  could  create  and  con- 
stitute a  Church !  To  assert  the  truth  against 
so  patent  a  delusion  was  timely,  and  indeed  need- 
ful, a  century  ago.  Would  that  it  were  needful 
nowhere  now ! 

Following  this  declaration  was  the  agreement 
that  no  "  communion  in  sacred  offices  "  should  be 
held  with  clergy,  of  whatever  ordination,  who  were 
officiating  in  Scotland  without  recognizing,  or 
being  recognized  by,  the  national  Episcopate. 

Finally,  passing  from  doctrine  and  organization 
to  worship,  the  Scottish  bishops,  after  speaking  of 
the  desirableness  of  "  as  near  a  conformity  in  wor- 
ship and  discipline  between  the  two  Churches  as  is 
consistent  with  the  different  circumstances  and 
customs  of  nations,"  go  on  to  say  that,  inasmuch  as 
"  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  or  the 
administration  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ,  is  the  principal  bond  of  union 
among  Christians,  as  well  as  the  most  solemn  act 
of  worship  in  the  Christian  Church,  .  .  .  though 
they  are  far  from  prescribing  to  their  brethren  in 
this  matter,  they  cannot  help  ardently  wishing  that 
Bishop  Seabury  would  endeavor  all  he  can,  con- 
sistently with  peace  and  prudence,  to  make  the 
celebration  of  this  venerable  Mystery  conformable 
to  the  most  primitive  doctrine  and  practice."  So 
far  the  Scottish  bishops.  On  his  part,  the  newly 
consecrated  bishop  agreed  "  to  take  a  serious  view 


Convention  Sermon,  1885.  91 

of  the  Communion-office  recommended  by  his 
brethren,  and,  if  found  agreeable  to  the  genuine 
standards  of  antiquity,  to  give  his  sanction  to  it, 
and  by  gentle  methods  of  argument  and  persua- 
sion to  endeavor,  as  they  have  done,  to  introduce 
it  by  degrees  into  practice,  without  the  compulsion 
of  authority  on  the  one  side  or  the  prejudice  of 
former  custom  on  the  other." 

These  are  all  weighty,  wise,  and  noble  words. 
I  have  quoted  them  at  some  length  for  two  reasons. 
In  the  first  place,  they  embody  just  those  things 
which  come  to  the  front  in  St.  Luke's  description 
of  the  Apostolic  Church  in  the  full  glow  of  its  Pen- 
tecostal life  :  "  They  continued  steadfastly  in  the 
apostles', doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  the  break- 
ing of  the  bread  and  in  the  prayers."  The  more 
carefully  the  document  and  the  inspired  statement 
are  compared,  the  more  clearly  is  this  remarkable 
agreement  seen.  If  this  is  the  result  of  a  conscious 
reference  to  the  words  of  St.  Luke,  it  shows  how 
faithfully  the  venerable  framers  of  the  Concordate 
went  back  to  the  very  sources  of  the  Church's 
organic  life.  If  the  reference  is  unconscious,  it 
shows,  even  'more  strikingly,  how  thoroughly  they 
were  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  apostolic  age. 

In  the  second  place,  unless  I  have  greatly  mis- 
read history,  our  first  bishop,  both  in  his  work  in 
this  diocese  and  also  in  the  part  he  took  in  bring- 
ing about  for  our  whole  Church  the  happy  settle- 
ment of  1789,  followed  on  the  line  of  action 
indicated  in  the  Concordate,  patiently  and  un- 
swervingly ;  and  in  following  it,  he  was  guided  by 
that  integrity  in  purpose  and  discretion  in  action 
which  characterize  the  wise  and  efficient  ruler. 

Had   Bishop   Seabury  carried   out  his    original 


92  Seabiiry  Centenary — Co7tnect,iciit. 

purpose,  he  would  have  sailed  for  his  native  land 
"  in  the  ship  Triumph,  commanded  by  Captain 
Stout."  He  was,  however,  detained  in  London, 
and  from  that  city  he  addressed  what  has  been 
called  "  his  first  pastoral  letter  "  to  the  representa- 
tives of  the  clergy  of  Connecticut.  His  detention 
was  largely,  probably  not  wholly,  due  to  the 
necessity  which  came  upon  him  of  making,  if 
possible,  some  provision  for  the  future  maintenance 
of  the  clergy.  What  little  property  he  had  acquired 
had  all  been  expended  in  his  two  years'  absence 
from  his  family  and  his  residence  in  England ; 
and  the  question  whether  or  not  the  Venerable 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  would 
or  could  continue  the  stipends  hitherto  appro- 
priated to  the  clergy  in  Connecticut  was  a  very 
pressing  one.  His  admirable  letter  to  the  secretary 
of  the  society  —  a  letter  which  thoroughly  reveals 
the  man  —  is  too  long  to  be  given  here,  while  it 
cannot  be  adequately  represented  by  any  quota- 
tions. He  does  not  attempt  to  conceal  the  fact 
that  the  continuance  of  his  own  stipend  would  be 
a  great  relief  to  his  anxieties,  but  he  frankly  adds 
that  if  it  is  not  continued  he  "  can  have  no  right  to 
complain."  And  then  putting  himself,  as  he 
always  did,  entirely  to  one  side,  and  saying,  what 
seems  to  have  been  ever  in  his  mind,  that  "  the 
fate  of  individuals  is  of  inferior  moment  when 
compared  with  that  of  the  whole  Church,"  he 
draws  attention  to  the  calamity  it  will  be  "  if  proper 
steps  be  not  taken  to  secure  to  the  Church  various 
property  of  lands,  etc.,  in  the  different  States  (now 
indeed  of  small  value,  but  gradually  increasing),  to 
which  the  societv  alone  has  a  IcQ-al  claim." 

Under   the    terms  of  their  charter,  the    society 


Co7ivention  Sermon ^  1885.  93 

could  employ  missionaries  only  in  "  the  plan- 
tations, colonies,  and  factories  belonging  to  the 
kingdom  of  Great  Britain";  while  they  seem  not 
to  have  been  ready  to  consider  the  question  touch- 
ing the  lands.  The  timidity  or  the  lack  of  appre- 
ciation of  the  purely  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical 
character  of  the  Episcopate  as  such,  which  then 
prevailed,  is  painfully  noticeable  in  the  fact  that,  in 
the  letter  which  communicated  the  decision  of  the 
society,  the  secretary  addressed  the  bishop  as  he 
would  have  done  before  his  consecration  — "  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Seabury." 

On  other  trials  and  difficulties  which  he  met  in 
London  I  do  not  care  to  dwell.  They  all  grew 
out  of  political  jealousies,  confused  notions  con- 
cerning connections  of  Church  and  State,  or  fears, 
which  proved  to  be  groundless,  that  the  consecra- 
tion sermon,  to  say  nothing  of  the  consecration 
itself,  might  somehow  be  disadvantageous  to  the 
Scottish  Episcopate.  One  charge  alleged  is  to  us 
in  this  day  simply  amusing ;  namely,  that  the  bishop 
had  been "  precipitate "  in  his  application  to  Scot- 
land. A  precipitancy  which  patiently  w^aits  and 
labors  for  more  than  thirteen  months  to  obtain  the 
Episcopate  in  England,  and  only  when  all  hope  of 
so  obtaining  it  is  at  an  end  applies  for  it  in  Scot- 
land, is,  to  say  the  least,  a  very  deliberate  sort  of 
precipitancy.  And  now  w^e  may  pass  from  the  old 
worlcl  to  the  new. 

"Bishop  Seabury  landed  at  Newport,  R.  I." — 
where  Berkeley  had  landed  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury before  —  "after  a  voyage  of  three  months,^  on 
Monday,  June  20th,  1785,  and  the  next  Sunday  he 

^  This  period,  however,  includes  some  stay  in  Nova  Scotia. 


94  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

preached  in  Trinity  Church  the  first  sermon  of  an 
American  bishop  in  this  country."^  On  the  29th 
he  reached  New  London,  which  from  that  time 
was  to  be  his  home.  While  he  was  still  at  sea  a 
Boston  newspaper,  which  had  received  the  intelli- 
gence of  his  consecration,  exclaimed :  "  Two  won- 
ders of  the  world,  a  Stamp  Act  in  Boston  and  a 
Bishop  in  Connecticut !  "^ 

Two  things  instantly  demanded  the  most  careful 
attention  and  most  earnest  efforts  of  the  one 
American  bishop :  the  condition  and  needs  of  his 
own  diocese,  and  the  all-important  question  as  to 
the  future  of  the  scattered  congregations  of  what 
had  been  the  Church  of  England  in  the  thirteen 
colonies.  The  stoutest  heart  might  well  quail 
before  the  difficulties  that  rose  up  before  him  on 
every  side.  But  Seabury's  principle  of  action  was 
ever  found  in  the  twofold  rule  always  to  "  do  the 
next  thing,"  and  when  all  cannot  be  done  that  one 
fain  would  do,  then  to  do  the  best  one  can.  And 
that  twofold  rule  will  enable  anv  man  who  acts 
under  it,  in  the  fear  and  strength  of  God,  to  over- 
come difficulties  by  patient  perseverance  or  to 
accept  disappointments  in  unrepining  submission. 
Faith  and  patience  may  not  make  their  voice  heard 
much  in  the  streets,  but  they  accomplish  results  at 
last. 

Did  he  look  at  his  own  diocese  ?  There  he  saw 
many  obstacles  and  few,  very  few,  encouragements. 
Five,  at  least,  of  the  small  number  of  the  clergy 
and   considerable   numbers   of  the  laity  had  "  emi- 

^  The  text  was  Heb.  xii.  i,  2.  The  sermon  was  afterwards  published  in 
the  Bishop's  Discourses  011  Several  Stibjects,  vol.  ii.,  serm.  xvi.,  "  The 
Christian  Race." 

'^Boston  Gazette,  May  30,  1785. 


Convention  Sermon,  1885.  95 

grated,  or  were  soon  to  emigrate,  to  Nova  Scotia 
and  the  adjoining  territory."  Aside,  then,  from 
those  whom  Ite  might  ordain,  not  more  than  eleven 
clergymen,  and  with  them  not  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty  families,  composed  the  diocese. 
It  is  due  to  this  ancient  State,  and  it  should  ever 
be  remembered  to  her  praise,  that  the  loyalists 
within  her  borders  suffered .  no  political  oppression 
after  the  war  of  the  Revolution  had  ended.  Nor 
can  we  forget  that  she  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress  in  1784,  and  afterwards,  in 
1787,  to  the  convention  which  framed  our  federal 
constitution,  one  who  in  1779  had  been,  however 
unreasonably,  arrested  for  treason  to  the  United 
Colonies,  VVilliam  Samuel  Johnson.  Still  it  is 
none  the  less  true,  and  it  can  occasion  little  won- 
der, that  loyalists,  and  therefore  Churchmen,  "  were 
not  in  good  repute  with  the  public  authorities, 
and  scorn  was  likely  to  attend  many  of  them  for 
years  to  come." 

To  these  diminished  numbers  of  clergy  and 
people  must  be  added  the  loss  of  the  stipends 
hitherto  allowed  by  the  Society  in  England,  and 
the  poverty  which  made  it  next  to  impossible  to 
replace  them.  Add,  moreover,  to  these  things  the 
doubts  and  uncertainties,  the  break-up  of  old 
associations  and  habitudes,  the  manifold  perplexi- 
ties of  which  we  now  know  nothing,  and  which  we 
could  not  enumerate  if  we  did  know  them,  and 
what  a  troubled  scene  was  that  on  which  our  first 
bishop,  who  stoocl  alone  in  his  order  in  these 
United  States,  cast  an  anxious  eye  !  "  The  child- 
ren were  come  to  the  birth,"  but  would  there  be 
"  strength  to  bring  them  forth  "  1 

One    discouragement  —  and    that    would    have 


96  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

been  greater  than  all  the  others  —  Seabury  was  not 
called  to  meet.  He  did  not  come  to  a  disunited 
and  divided  body.  His  diocese  stood  together  as 
a  unit.  They  stood  where  they  did  because  of 
convictions,  than  which  none  could  be  stronger  or 
more  abiding.  When  they  said  :  "  I  believe  in  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church,"  they  uttered  no  unreal 
words,  no  words  that  habits  of  careless  utterance 
had  made  unmeaning.  They  meant  just  what  they 
said.  And  that  strong  and  united  conviction  gave 
hope  and  comfort  for  the  future.  Clouds  and 
darkness  were  about  them.  But  on  those  clouds 
there  was  seen  the  bow  of  promise,  while  beyond 
them  stood  —  what  they  might  obscure  but  could 
not  remove  —  the  "  city  which  hath  foundations, 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  God." 

On  Wednesday,  the  third  day  of  August,  the 
bishop  met  his  clergy  at  Middletown,  received  their 
address  of  congratulation  and  recognition,  and 
made  his  reply  to  it.  On  this  day  was  also  held 
the  first  ordination  administered  by  a  bishop  within 
the  limits  of  the  United  States.  On  the  day 
following,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  who  came  as 
the  appointed  representative  of  the  clergy  in 
Massachusetts,^  made  a  communication  which,  we 
are  told,  "  was  received  witli  the  warmest  expres- 
sions of  welcome,"  setting  forth  his  instructions 
"to  collect  the  sentiments  of  the  Connecticut 
clergy  in  respect  of  Dr.  Seabury's  episcopal  conse- 
cration and  the  regulation  of  his  episcopal  juris- 
diction," and  intimating  the  intention  of  those  who 
sent  him  to  connect  themselves  with  their  brethren 
here  by  coming  under  the  charge  of  their  bishop. 

1  The  Rev.  Dr.  Moore  of  New  York  was  also  present,  but  not,  appar- 
ently, in  any  representative  capacity. 


Conventioii  Sermon,  1885.  97 

On  this  day,  also,  Bishop  Seabury  delivered  his 
first  charge.  In  it,  after  rehearsing  with  earnest 
expressions  of  gratitude  to  the  bishops  of  Scotland 
the  steps  which  he  had  taken  to  secure  the  Episco- 
pate, and  modestly  referring  to  his  own  new 
position,  declaring  that  next  to  the  grace  of  God 
he  relies,  in  carrying  on  the  work  committed  to 
him,  on  the  "  advice  and  assistance "  of  his 
brethren,  he  dwells  on  three  important  topics. 
First,  he  urges  on  himself  and  them  the  duty  of 
taking  "  heed  unto  the  doctrine "  as  well  as  to 
themselves,  saying,  in  words  which  are  not 
unneeded  now:  "  The  first  instance  of  fidelity  is, 
that  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  be  fairly, 
earnestly,  and  affectionately  proposed,  explained, 
and  inculcated,  and  that  we  suffer  nothing  else  to 
usurp  their  place  and  become  the  subject  of  our 
preaching."  Next,  he  presses  carefulness  in  recom- 
mending persons  for  ordination,  enlarging  not  so 
much  on  "  literary  accomplishments,  though  these 
are  not  to  be  neglected,  as  aptitude  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry."  And,  lastly,  for  obvious  reasons, 
he  treats,  at  length,  "  of  the  old  and  sacred  rite, 
handed  down  to  us  from  the  apostolic  age  by  the 
primitive  Church  —  the  laying-on  of  hands."  The 
document  shows,  so  far  as  a  document  can,  that  its 
writer  possessed  in  himself  the  qualifications  which 
he  regarded  as  necessary  "  to  make  a  useful  clergy- 
man —  good  temper,  prudence,  diligence,  capacity, 
and  aptitude  to  teach." 

On  the  third  day  of  its  session,  the  convocation 
appointed  a  "  committee  to  consider  of  and  make 
with  the  bishop  some  alterations  in  the  Liturgy 
needful  for  the  present  use  of  the  Church."  ^     The 

^  Mr.  Parker  of  Massachusetts  was  appointed  on  this  committee. 
9 


98  Seabury   Centenary — Connecticut, 

matter  was  entered  on  with  caution,  and  the  only 
changes  then  and  there  ordered  were  those  which 
changed  pohtical  relations  made  necessary  in  the 
State  prayers  and  services.  These  were  immedi- 
ately set  forth  by  the  bishop  in  an  "  injunction,"  by 
which  he  "  authorized  and  required  "  the  clergy  to 
follow  them.  Some  other  changes  were  proposed 
and  reserved  for  future  consideration ;  but  as  noth- 
ing seems  to  have  been  done  about  them  in  this 
diocese,  they  need  no  special  mention. 

The  bishop,  however,  was  not  unmindful  of  his 
promise  given  in  the  Concordate,  and  in  the  year 
following  (1786)  published  his  adaptation  of  the 
Scottish  Communion-ofifice.  This  he  did  not,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  alterations  agreed  to  in  convoca- 
tion, "  enjoin  "  or  "  require."  He  simply  "  recom- 
mended it  to  the  Episcopal  congregations  in 
Connecticut." 

I  am  quite  conscious  that  this  is  a  very  brief 
summary,  a  very  meagre  outline,  of  acts  and 
events  each  one  of  which  is  most  important  and 
suggestive.  It  is  all,  however,  that  time  and  space 
allow,  and  it  brings  into  strong  relief  some  things 
which  ought  not  to  be  forgotten. 

The  reverent  care  and  caution  with  which  the 
ofifices  of  sacred  worship  are  approached  are 
apparent.  These  are  no  signs  of  a  hesitancy 
which  is  doubtful  of  its  position.  They  indicate 
rather  the  strength  of  assurance  which  hesitates 
to  touch  the  gift  entrusted  to  it  lest  touching  may 
end  in  tampering.  In  the  same  year  in  which 
these  careful  steps  were  taken,  another  convention, 
in  six  days,  revised  the  entire  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  with  all  its  Offices  and  with  the  "  Articles 
of  Religion";  the  result  being  a  book  which  under- 


'Convention  Sermon,  1885.  99 

went  amendments  in  four  States,  had  its  ratifica- 
tion postponed  in  another,  was  rejected  in  still 
another,  and  was  not  considered  at  all  in  five. 
The  contrast  in  results  is  quite  as  striking  as  that 
in  spirit  and  methods  of  action. 

We  also  see,  unless  I  greatly  err,  in  his  action 
in  regard  to  the  changes  in  the  State  prayers  and 
his  own  office  for  the  Holy  Communion,  Bishop 
Seabury's  ideal  of  the  position  of  a  bishop  in  the 
Church  of  God.  And  this  view  is  confirmed  by 
the  entire  course  of  his  Episcopate.  What  was 
established  by  competent  authority,  he  "  required." 
What  was  not  so  established,  however  much  his 
own  heart  might  be  set  upon  it,  he  "  recom- 
mended." When  the  first  great  Bishop  of  New 
Zealand  met  his  first  synod,  he  uttered  these 
noble  words :  "  I  believe  the  monarchical  idea  of 
the  Episcopate  to  be  as  foreign  to  the  true  mind  of 
the  Church  as  it  is  adverse  to  the  Gospel  doctrine 
of  humility.  I  would  rather  resign  my  office  than 
be  reduced  to  act  as  a  single  isolated  being.  It 
remains,  then,  to  define  by  some  general  principle 
the  terms  of  9ur  co-operation.  They  are  simply 
these :  that  neither  will  I  act  without  you,  nor  can 
you  act  without  me."  Of  course,  a  bishop  who 
takes  this  line  must  lay  his  acccount  with  the 
charge  that  he  seeks  to  avoid  responsibility.  But 
he  may  comfort  himself  with  the  recollection  that 
had  he  taken  the  other  line,  the  same  persons  who 
lament  his  timidity  would  be  sure  to  charge  him 
with  arrogant  assumption.  If  Seabury  did  not 
utter  Selwyn's  very  words,  he  acted  them.  Nor  is 
it  more  or  less  than  the  very  truth  to  say  that  in 
all  his  Episcopate  he  exemplified  the  counsel  of  the 
Son  of  Sirach  :  "  If  thou  Idc  made  the   master,  lift 


100  Seabury  Cetttenary — Connecticut. 

not  thyself  up,  but  be  among  them  as  one  of  the 
rest."^ 

The  story  of  that  Episcopate  cannot  be  told 
here.  It  has  been  written  in  a  faithful  record 
accessible  to  all,  and  with  which  most  of  us  must 
be  familiar.  For  almost  twelve  years  the  parish 
priest  in  New  London  did  his  pastor's  work,  the 
humble-minded  bishop  went,  in  homely  ways,  ^  in 
and  out  among  his  people,  feeding  the  flock 
''  according  to  the  integrity  of  his  heart,  and  guid- 
ing them  by  the  skilfulness  of  his  hands."  And 
when  God  took  him  to  his  rest,  the  mourning  of 
his  diocese  was  like  the  "  mourning  in  the  floor  of 
Atad,"  and  the  poor  and  the  suffering,  the  widow 
and  the  fatherless  followed  him  to  his  grave,  and 
wrote  his  epitaph  in  their  tears. 

The  power  and  value  of  an  Episcopate  like  his 
cannot  be  measured  by  immediate  results  —  though 
such  results  were  not  lacking  —  which  are  visible 
along  its  progress  and  at  its  close.  Not  only  was 
it  not  his  peacefully  to  build  on  undisturbed 
foundations ;  it  was  not  even  his  to  lay  in  peace 
original  foundations.  His  was  the  harder,  the 
more  hopeless  task,  to  re-lay  foundations  which  had 
been  torn  up  and  scattered,  and  then  begin  to 
build  upon  them.  And  under  what  discourage- 
ments was  the  task  to  be  undertaken  and  prose- 
cuted:  with  diminished  and  diminishing  numbers 
of  fellow-workers ;  with  narrow  resources  and 
restricted  means  ;  amid  manifold   and  unexpected 

^  Ecclus.  xxii.  I. 

2  In  a  book  published  some  years  ago,  it  was  said  that  all  clergymen  in 
Connecticut  travelled,  at  the  period  spoken  of,  on  horseback,  "  except,  per- 
haps. Bishop  Seabury,  who  rode  in  a  coach."  He  may  have  "  ridden  "  in  a 
stage-coach,  or  in  a'  coach  belonging  to  some  wealthy  layman ;  but  the 
only  vehicle  which  he  ever  possessed  was  a  "  one-horse  chaise." 


Convention  Sermon,  1885.  -        loi 

difficulties ;  amid  jealousies  that  not  infrequently 
deepened  into  scornful  enmity !  How  often  must 
he  have  cried  from  the  depths  of  his  heart :  "  Who 
is  weak,  and  I  am  not  weak  ?  who  is  offended,  and 
I  burn  not  ? "  Only  a  brave  and  genuine  man, 
a  man  of  prayer  and  faith  and  love,  could  have 
borne  up  under  such  wearying  burdens.  But  he 
was  all  that,  and  even  more  than  that.  And, 
therefore,  to  us  who  look  back  upon  our  history  as 
a  diocese  from  the  close  of  one  century,  to  those 
who  shall  look  back  upon  it  from  the  close  of 
another,  nay,  in  all  time,  its  central  figure  must  be 
that  massive  one  with  which  the  limner's  skill  has 
made  us  all  familiar,  as  it  stands  facing  wind  and 
storm,  supported  by  the  Word  of  God,  which,  in 
its  turn,  rests  on  the  everlasting  rock ;  the  figure 
of  him  by  whom  the  God  of  our  fathers  said  to  our 
"  Jerusalem,  Thou  shalt  be  built ;  and  to  the 
temple,  Thy  foundation  shall  be  laid."^ 

But  it  is  time  to  turn  to  the  second  of  the  two 
things  of  which  mention  was  just  now  made ;  the 
future,  namely,  of  the  scattered  fragments  of  what 
had  been  the  Church  of  England  in  the  thirteen 
colonies.  To  unite  and  consolidate  these  into  one 
national  Church  was  the  difficult  problem  to  be 
solved;  a  problem,  we  may  say  with  reverent 
thankfulness,  that  never  could  have  been  solved 
had  there  not  come  to  the  solution  a  stronger  than 
any  human  strength,  and  a  wiser  than  any  human 
wisdom.  To  bring  about  this  blessed  consumma- 
tion, the  first  two  bishops  consecrated  for  America 
labored,  if  not  always  with  accordant  views,  yet  ever 
with  united  hearts.  The  time  has  long  gone  by, 
and  it  ought  never  to  have  been,  when  to  give  his 

^  Isaiah  xliv.  28. 
9* 


102  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut, 

due  meed  of  praise  to  Bishop  Seabury,  and  to 
recognize  his  share  in  the  great  work  accompHshed, 
could  be  thought  in  any  way  to  carry  with  it 
disparagement  to  the  eminent  services  of  Bishop 
White.  Nothing  can  ever  change  or  obscure  his 
prominence  in  the  history  of  this  Church.  Surviv- 
ing as  he  did  the  darkest  days  of  her  trial  and 
depression,  living  to  see  her  enter  on  wider  lines 
and  vaster  fields  of  action,  and  enter  on  them  wath 
a  deepened  spiritual  life,  he  went  to  his  rest  in  an 
old  age  that  was  brightened  with  the  reverent  love 
of  "  all  the  churches,"  and  from  which  there  was 
shed  upon  those  churches  the  gracious  light  of  a 
gentleness,  a  meekness,  and  a  charity,  the  memo- 
ries of  which  will  never  pass  away.  He  is,  he 
always  must  be,  our  St.  John. 

The  two  great  obstacles  in  the  minds  of  Bishop 
Seabury  and  his  clergy  — « and  I  think  I  may  add 
the  clergy  of  New  England  generally  —  to  the 
union  and  consolidation  so  earnestly  desired,  were 
found  in  certain  omissions  in  what  was  known  as 
"  The  Proposed  Book,"  adopted  at  a  convention 
composed  of  deputies  from  seven  States  in  1785,^ 
and  published  in  1 786 ;  and  in  certain  provisions 
of  an  "  Ecclesiastical  Constitution  "  first  agreed  to 
in  the  same  convention  of  1785,  and  afterwards 
altered  in  some  particulars  in  1786. 

The  insurmountable  difficulties  which  arose  out 
of  the  Proposed  Book  were  the  entire  omission 
of  the  Creed  commonly  known  as  the  Nicene 
Creed,  and  the  equally  entire  omission  of  the 
article,  "  He  descended  into  hell,"  in  the  Apostles' 

^  The  seven  States  represented  were  :  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware,  ^.laryland,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina.  No  deputies 
were  present  from  New  England. 


Convention  Sermon,  1885.  103 


Creed.  I  do  not  at  all  mean  to  say  that  these 
omissions  constituted  the  only  objections  in  the 
minds  of  Bishop  Seabury  and  those  who  acted 
with  him.  But  these  were  fatal.  As  long  as  these 
omissions  remained,  it  was  useless  to  consider  any 
other  matters.  Our  fathers  could  never  have 
united  with  any  body  which  deliberately  rejected 
the  Catholic  Faith.  For,*  as  has  been  well  said, 
"a  Church  is  not  Catholic  merely  from  having  an 
Apostolic  ministry;  the  Catholic  Faith  is  as 
essential  as  Catholic  Institutions."  Nay,  I  think 
we  may  say  even  more  than  that;  namely,  that  to 
put  the  ministry  first  and  the  faith  next  is  to 
reverse  the  order  established  by  the  Lord.  For 
surely,  of  those  to  whom  was  given  the  commission 
to  "  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them 
into  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  it  can  never  be  said  that  the 
Name,  which  is  the  original  and  the  summary  of 
every  Catholic  Creed,  was  given  for  and  because  of 
them,  but  rather  it  must  be  said  that  they  were 
instituted  for  and  because  of  it.  To  reverse  this 
order  is  to  make  the  messenger  of  more  importance 
than  the  message;  is  to  make  the  vase  that  holds 
the  perfume  of  more  importance  than  the  perfume 
held. 

Happily  the  difficulty  was  not  long  in  its  con- 
tinuance. In  the  course  of  the  negotiations  for 
the  Episcopate,  which  began  in  October,  1785,  it 
became  very  evident  that  the  bishops  of  England 
were  not  inclined  to  accede  to  the  application  for 
it  so  long  as  the  omission  and  mutilation  just 
mentioned  were  adhered  to.  Accordingly,  on  the 
nth  of  October,  1786,  in  a  convention  held  at 
Wilmington,    Delaware,  the    omitted    clause    was 


104  Seahiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

restored  in  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  the  Nicene 
Creed  was  reinstated  in  its  proper  place. 

The  other  obstacle,  however,  remained  untouched; 
and,  in  fact,  it  was  twofold.  In  the  Constitution 
agreed  upon  by  the  representatives  from  seven 
States  in  1785,  there  was  not  only  no  provision  for 
a  House  of  Bishops,  but  it  was  not  even  provided 
that  the  one  House  should  be  presided  over  by  a 
bishop,  if  one  of  that  order  were  present.  The 
Episcopate  was  utterly  ignored.  Besides  this 
extraordinary  omission,  every  clergyman,  of  what- 
ever order,  was  made  amenable  to  the  convention 
of  the  diocese  to  which  he  belonged  in  regard  to 
*'  suspension  or  removal  from  office,"  while,  for  all 
that  appeared,  the  sentence  of  suspension  or 
deposition  must  have  been  pronounced  by  the 
convention  itself.  In  a  Church  regulated  by  rules 
and  ordinances  like  these,  there  might  be  a  nominal 
Episcopate,  but  it  would  be  only  nominal.  The 
Ordinal  might  be  retained,  but  it  would  cease  to 
have  any  meaning.  The  Primitive  Church  might 
be  spoken  of,  but  every  trace  of  primitive  order 
and  administration  would  have  disappeared. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  Bishop  Seabury 
objected  to  any  admission  of  the  laity  to  the  coun- 
cils of  the  Church.  But  this  is  one  of  the  cases  in 
which,  unless  we  distinguish  things  that  differ,  we 
shall  certainly  go  far  astray.  Legislation  is  one 
thing;  the  judicial  exercise  of  discipline  in  the 
Church  is  quite  another  thing.  Now,  I  do  not  find 
that  Bishop  Seabury  was  set  against  recognizing 
the  right  of  the  laity  to  a  share  in  the  legislation 
of  the  Church,  on  the  principle  laid  down  by 
Hooker,  that  laws  which  are  to  bind  all  orders 
should  have   the  consent  of  all   orders.     On  the 


Conventiofi  Sermon,  1885.  105 

contrary,  he  admitted  the  principle  when  he  set  his 
name  to  the  Constitution  of  1789  which  provided 
for  this  very  thing;  a  provision  the  value  of  which 
has  been  fully  demonstrated  by  the  first  century  of 
our  history  as  a  national  Church. 

Touching  his  views  concerning  the  judicial 
exercise  of  discipline,  I  need  only  cite  his  own 
words :  "  I  cannot  conceive  that  the  laity  can  with 
any  propriety  be  admitted  to  sit  in  judgment  on 
bishops  and  presbyters,  especially  when  deposition 
may  be  the  event ;  because  they  cannot  take  away 
a  character  which  they  cannot  confer.  It  is  incon- 
gruous with  every  idea  of  episcopal  government. 
That  authority  which  confers  power  can,  for 
proper  reasons,  take  it  away.  But  where  there  is 
no  authority  to  confer  power,  there  can  be  none  to 
disannul  it.  Wherever,  therefore,  the  powder  of 
ordination  is  lodged,  the  power  of  deprivation  is 
lodged  also."  Concerning  the  absolute  irrecogni- 
tion  of  the  Episcopate,  as  entitled  to  any  share  in 
either  legislation  or  discipline,  by  the  Constitution 
of  1785,  I  need  only  cite,  again,  the  bishop's  words  : 
"  In  so  essential  a  matter  as  Church  government  is, 
no  alterations  should  be  made  that  affect  its  founda- 
tion. If  a  man  be  called  a  bishop  who  has  not 
the  episcopal  powers  of  government,  he  is  called  by 
a  wrong  name,  even  though  he  should  have  the 
power  of  ordination  and  confirmation." 

The  position  assumed  by  our  first  bishop  in 
regard  to  both  these  matters  was  justified  and 
sustained  by  the  action  of  this  Church  in  1789, 
when  the  Constitution,  as  amended,  was  made  to 
provide  for  a  House  of  Bishops,  "  with  power  to 
originate  and  propose  acts,"  and  also  for  the 
administration    of   discipline     by    the   Episcopate 


io6  Seabiivy  Centenary — Connecticut. 

alone.  This  was  the  Constitution  to  which  —  "  on 
a  dingy  half  sheet  of  paper  " —  Bishop  Seabury  and 
Drs.  Jarvis  and  Hubbard,  as  representatives  from 
Connecticut,  and  Dr.  Parker,  as  deputy  from 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  set  their 
hands  in  October,  1789,  and  by  their  act  effected 
the  consolidation  of  our  Church. 

I  will  not  say  that  a  victory  was  thus  gained,  for 
it  was  not  victory  that  was  sought.  But  we  may 
say  that  something  far  better  than  a  victory  was 
attained,  in  that  a  great  principle  was  accepted. 
Nor  has  the  lapse  of  time  raised  any  doubt  as  to 
the  rightfulness  and  wisdom  of  the  acceptance.^ 

^  It  is  worth  while  to  state  the  steps  by  which  final  action  was  reached  : 

1.  The  Constitution  adopted  in  1785  took  no  account  of  the  Episcopate 
as  a  possible  component  part  of  the  General  Convention.  In  1786  pro- 
vision was  made  that  "  a  bishop  should  always  preside  in  General  Conven- 
tion, if  any  of  the  episcopal  order  were  present."  In  August,  1789,  it  wa^ 
agreed,  with  certain  limitations  and  restrictions,  that  "the  bishops  of  this 
Church,  when  there  shall  be  three  or  more,  shall,  whenever  a  General  Con- 
vention shall  be  held,  form  a  House  of  Revision;  and  when  any  proposed 
act  shall  have  passed  in  the  General  Convention,  the  same  shall  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  House  of  Revision  for  their  concurrence."  Obviously  the 
House  of  Revision  is  not  here  regarded  as  a  component  part  of  the  General 
Convention.  Finally,  in  October,  1789,  it  was  ordered  that  "the  bishops 
of  this  Church,  when  there  shall  be  three  or  more,  shall,  whenever  General 
Conventions  are  held,  form  a  separate  house,  with  a  right  to  originate  and 
propose  acts  for  the  concurrence  of  the  House  of  Deputies,  composed  of  clergy 
and  laity."  Certain  restrictions,  which  have  since  been  modified,  were 
added.  But  clearly  the  great  principle  contended  for  by  Bishop  Seabury 
and  those  who  acted  with  him  is  here  admitted. 

2.  As  to  the  other  point  insisted  on  :  In  1785,  article  viii.  of  the  Consti- 
tution read:  "  Every  clergyman,  whether  bishop  or  presbyter  or  deacon, 
shall  be  amenable  to  the  authority  of  the  convention  in  the  State  to  which 
he  belongs,  so  far  as  relates  to  suspension  or  removal  from  office  ;  and  the 
convention  in  each  State  shall  institute  rules  for  their  conduct,  and  an 
equitable  mode  of  trial."  Here  there  is  not  even  an  allusion  to  the  Episoo- 
pate,  and  each  convention  is  recognized  as  absolutely  supreme.  In  June, 
1786,  the  following  sentence  was  added  to  article  viii.  of  1785:  "And  at 
every  trial  of  a  bishop  there  shall  be  one  or  more  of  the  episcopal  order 
present,  and  none  but  a  bishop  shall  pronounce  sentence  of  deposition  or 
degradation  from  the  ministry  on  any  clergyman,  whether  bishop,  presby- 
ter, or  deacon."  Here  is  an  advance  in  the  right  direction.  In  August, 
1789,  the  first  sentence  of  the  foregoing  article  disappears,  and  in  its  place 
we  read :  "In  every  State  the  mode  of  trying  clergymen  shall  be  instituted 
by  the  convention  of  the  Church  therein."  The  last  sentence  of  the  article 
remains  unchanged,  and  the  second  principle  contended  for  is  accepted. 


Convention  Sermon,  1885.  107 


While  the  years  between  1785  and  1789,  with 
their  discussions,  doubts,  and  difficulties,  were 
wearing  away,  the  general  acceptance  of  the  great 
principles  on  which  I  have  been  dwelling  seemed 
always  uncertain,  and  sometimes  hopeless.  Steps 
were  accordingly  taken  to  provide  for  a  possible 
emergency  of  rejection  —  an  emergency  which  can- 
not be  contemplated  without  a  shudder.  It  was 
decided  in  the  convocation  which  met  at  Walling- 
ford  in  February,  1787,  to  send,  should  it  become 
necessary,  a  "  presbyter  to  Scotland  for  consecra- 
tion, as  coadjutor  to  Dr.  Seabury."  The  purpose 
no  doubt  was,  should  such  necessity  arise,  to 
secure  the  number  of  bishops  canonically  requisite 
to  continue  the  succession.  It  was  wise  to  pro- 
vide for  all  contingencies  ;  but  it  was  equally  wise, 
and  as  much  a  matter  of  duty,  to  take  no  actual  steps 
till  contingencies  arose,  and,  meantime,  to  make 
all  possible  endeavors  to  avert  them.  The  pru- 
dent counsels  of  the  Scottish  bishops,  and  the  con- 
ciliatory and  patient  action  of  Bishop  White  on  the 
one  side  and  Bishop  Seabury  on  the  other,  did 
avert  the  contingency;  and  by  the  year  1789  all 
danger  of  the  separation,  so  much  feared  and 
deprecated,  had  passed  away.  It  was  of  God's 
good  providence  that,  in  the  General  Convention 
of  that  most  memorable  year,  1789,  there  was 
found  in  the  House  of  Bishops  no  root  of  bitter- 
ness, no  disturbing  element  growing  out  of  poli- 
tical prejudice  or  personal  animosity.  When,  on 
the  fifth  day  of  October,  the  House  was,  for  the 
first  time,  constituted.  Bishops  Seabury  and  White 
composed  its  membership. 

The  great  subject  which  occupied  the  attention 
of  the  bishops,  as    well    as  that  of  the   House  of 


io8  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

Deputies,  was  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  This 
is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  to  speak  at  length 
of  what  was  then  accomplished.  But  I  must  not 
omit  to  state,  even  at  the  risk  of  saying  what  is 
familiar  to  us  all,  that  in  that  book,  as  we  then 
received  and  still  have  it,  the  Order  of  the  Holy 
Communion  stands  —  and,  please  God,  will  ever 
stand  —  the  great  memorial  of  Seabury 's  share  in 
framing  our  sacred  offices,  the  memorial,  also,  of 
the  faithfulness  with  which,  if  not  in  the  very  let- 
ter, yet  substantially  and  in  spirit,  he  redeemed 
the  pledge  which  he  had  given  in  the  Concordate. 
Let  me  also  add  Bishop  White's  own  words  touch- 
ing the  intercourse  —  for  in  a  house  consisting  of 
two  members,  one  can  hardly  speak  of  debates  — 
of  himself  and  his  brother  of  Connecticut.  He 
says :  "  To  this  day  are  there  recollected  with  sat- 
isfaction the  hours  which  were  spent  with  Bishop 
Seabury  on  the  important  subjects  which  came 
before  them,  and  especially  the  Christian  temper 
which  he  manifested  all  along."  For  the  results 
of  that  memorable  Convention,  in  which  so  much 
was  gained  —  may  we  not  say  so  little  lost } — 
we  are  mainly  indebted,  under  the  overruling  wis- 
dom of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  the  stedfast  gentle- 
ness of  Bishop  White  and  the  gentle  stedfastness 
of  Bishop  Seabury. 

And  here,  since  mention  has  been  already  made 
of  Seabury 's  work  in  his  own  diocese,  and  of  his 
departure,  when  "  he  was  not  found  "  because  God 
had  taken  him,  this  historical  review  may  end. 
Does  it  not  tell  what  he  was }  Does  it  not  clearly 
reveal  his  character }  If  it  does  not,  then  no  words 
of  mine  can  do  it.  Strong  in  faith,  patient  in 
hope,  humble    and    self-sacrificing    in    charity,    he 


Convention  Sermon,  1885.  109 

stands  out  as  a  man  "  that  had  understanding  of 
the  times  to  know  what  Israel  ought  to  do  " ;  as 
a  builder  able  to  "  revive  the  stones  out  of  the 
heaps  of  the  rubbish  which  were  burned  " ;  as  a 
wise  ruler  who  "  fed  "  those  over  whom  the  Holy 
Ghost  had  made  him  an  overseer,  "according  to 
the  integrity  of  his  heart,  and  guided  them  by  the 
skilfulness  of  his  hands."  Therefore  for  him  and 
for  his  work,  we  praise  and  magnify  God's  holy 
Name  ! 

I  cannot  close  without  some  mention  of  two 
scenes,  in  both  of  which  it  was  my  privilege  to 
share.  More  than  fifty  years  had  passed  since  our 
first  bishop  was  borne  to  his  grave.  In  the  town 
in  which,  during  his  entire  Episcopate,  he  had  ful- 
filled the  lowlier  duties  of  a  parish  priest,  a  stately 
church  had  replaced  the  humble  temple  in  which 
he  ministered,  and  it  was  felt  in  all  our  borders 
that  under  its  altar  his  honored  remains  should  find 
their  final  resting-place.  Reverently  gathered,  they 
were  carried  by  the  clergy  through  crowded  streets, 
and  laid  down  where  we  trust  they  may  abide  till 
the  judgment  of  the  great  day.^  As  we  stood 
around  his  sepulchre  there  rose  from  every  lip  the 
words  of  the  symbol  of  Nicaea,  for  which  he  had 
striven  so  faithfully,  and  which  he  had  urged  his 
clergy  as  faithfully  to  teach,  saying,  in  words  which 
now  seem  prophetic,  that  he  foresaw  the  day  when 
in  New  England  there  would  come  a  widespread 
lapse  from  the  ancient  faith.  That  was  a  scene 
which  none  who  shared  in  it  can  forget. 

A  hundred  years  had  gone.  In  that  city  where 
he  sought  his  consecration  to  the  Episcopate  the 

^"Ut    in    loco  quietis  ultimo  usque   ad  magni   diei  judicium,"  are  the 
words  of  the  epitaph  on  the  altar-tomb  in  St.  James's  Church,  New  London. 
10 


I  lo  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticitt. 

little  upper  room  had  disappeared,  and  six  churches 
had  arisen.  In  one  of  these,  the  successor  of  the 
humble  "  oratory  in  the  house  of  Bishop  Skinner," 
there  are  gathered  seventeen  bishops  and  near  two 
hundred  clergy,  together  with  a  vast  congregation 
of  the  faithful.  What  do  they  represent  ?  Not 
what  those  who  came  together  a  century  before 
had  represented ;  not  one  Church  brought  almost 
to  the  verge  of  extinction,  and  another  threatened 
with  even  deeper  ruin.  No!  but  they  represent  a 
Church  that  has  emerged  from  the  darkness  that 
shrouded  it  in  Scotland ;  a  Church  that  has  risen 
from  what  seemed  but  shattered  fragments  in  the 
United  States;  the  great  Mother  Church  of  Eng- 
land; the  national  Church  of  Ireland;  and  the 
Churches  in  communion  'with  them  on  the  Conti- 
nent of  Europe,  in  the  dependencies  and  colonies 
of  the  empire  of  Great  Britain,  on  this  Western 
Continent,  in  India,  Australia,  Southern  Africa, 
and  the  islands  of  the  sea.  "  A  little  one  has  be- 
come a  thousand,  and  a  small  one  a  strong  nation." 
What  has  brought  them  together }  Not  merely 
to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  one  man  or  of  sev- 
eral men,  though  their  memories  are  inseparably 
blended  with  the  thoughts  and  associations  of  the 
occasion.  "  In  many  centenaries  the  dominant 
interest  is  the  personal.  The  birthday  of  the 
'  monk  that  shook  the  world  '  is  a  handy  peg  on 
which  to  hang  the  whole  of  his  marvellous  career, 
and  the  massive  personality  of  the  man  is  never 
absent  from  view.  But  in  the  consecration  of 
Bishop  Seabury  the  Churchman  beholds,  not  the 
preponderance  of  an  individual,  but  the  birthday  of 
a  Church.  The  difference  is  suggestive,  and  illus- 
trates the  radical  divergence  between  the  Catholic 


Convention  Sermo7i,  1885.  ill 

and  the  sectarian  frame  of  mind.  When  the  ideal 
of  the  one  Body  of  Christ  is  strongly  realized,  the 
Church  will  overshadow  the  individual ;  when  it  is 
little  cherished,  the  individual  will  eclipse  the 
Church.  We  may  be  content  to  be  of  those  who 
think  that,  as  the  State  is  greater  than  its  worthiest 
citizen,  so  the  Church  should  take  prjecedence  of 
its  greatest  member."^  Who  would  have  more 
gladly  owned  all  this,  who  would  have  been  more 
thankful  for  it,  than  he  who  gave  its  name  to  that 
centenary  1  For,  indeed,  it  was  this  which  swelled 
the  tide  of  emotion  to  its  height.  It  was  because 
of  this  that  men  felt  in  their  hearts,  and  said  with 
their  lips,  "  Glorious  things  are  spoken  of  thee, 
thou  City  of  God." 

One  closing  word,  dear  brethren,  and  the  duty 
that  from  time  to  time  you  have  laid  upon  me  will 
be  accomplished;  not  as  it  should  have  been,  but 
as  I  have  been  able  to  accomplish  it.  The  great 
principles  on  which  they  of  whom  I  have  been 
speaking  placed  themselves,  are  as  lasting  and  as 
unchangeable  as  the  everlasting  hills.  The  lines 
on  which  they  wrought  have  borne  the  trial  and 
stood  the  test  of  all  the  Christian  ages.  Are  we 
tempted,  in  a  spirit  of  self-suf]ficiency  or  of  doubt 
or  of  impatience,  to  forsake  them  }  Then  let  us 
put  the  temptation  firmly  to  one  side.  Only  by  so 
doing  shall  we  maintain  for  ourselves,  and  hand  on 
to  others,  who  shall  then  in  coming  years  rise  up 
and  call  us  blessed,  the  precious  deposit  that  has 
come  down  to  us,  and  for  which  we  bless  those 
who  have  gone  before  us.  Christianity  is  not  07te 
of  the  religions  of  the    world,   but  it   is   the  07ie 

^  These  admirable  words  are  quoted  from  the  Scottish  Church  Review  for 
November,  1884,  p.  749. 


112  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

religzo7i  for  i\\Q  world.  Jesus  Christ,  our  Prophet, 
Priest,  and  King,  our  sufficing  Sacrifice  and  our 
living  Lord,  is  not  the  ideal  man,  the  product  of 
the  growth,  circumstances,  and  conditions  of  one 
nation  or  of  the  whole  human  race,  but  He  is  the 
"  Son  of  God  with  power,"  miraculously  conceived 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  miraculously  born  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  dying  for  our  sins  and  rising  again  for  our 
justification.  "  A  Christianity,"  I  use  the  words  of 
Coleridge,  "without  a  Church  exercising  spiritual 
authority,  is  vanity  and  dissolution."^  The  Church 
is  not  an  aggregation  of  persons  agreeing  in  certain 
doctrines  or  practices,  but  it  is  the  "  Body  of  Christ," 
perpetuated  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  its 
organism.  "  The  fellowship  of  kindred  minds  "  is 
not  the  Communion  of  saints.  A  certain  "  continu- 
ity of  Christian  thought "  is  not  the  same  thing  as 
the  Faith  once  and  forever  given  to  the  saints. 

If  we  fling  away  these  truths  to  which  our  prede- 
cessors clung  so  firmly,  if  they  who  shall  come 
after  us  fling  them  aw^ay,  then  on  us  and  on  them 
will  come  the  shame  and  the  woe  of  making  the 
well-ordered  "  city  of  the  living  God,"  the  walls  of 
which  are  salvation  and  its  gates  praise,  to  be  "  like 
a  city  that  is  broken  down  and  without  walls."  On 
the  other  hand,  if  w^e,  and  they  who  shall  come 
after  us,  hold  them,  teach  them,  act  on  them,  then, 
and  only  then,  shall  we  and  they,  in  very  deed, 
"grow  up  into  Him  in  all  things,  Which  is  the 
Head,  even  Christ,  from  Whom  the  whole  Body  fitly 
joined  together  and  compacted  by  that  which  every 
joint  supplieth,  according  to  the  effectual  working 
in  the  measure  of  every  part,  maketh  increase  of 
the  Body  unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love." 

'^  Aids  to  Reflectioji,  p.  224,  note  (fourth  edition). 


SPECIAL  service  was  held  in  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  Midclletown,  on  the  one-hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  first  Ordination  held 
by  Bishop  Seabury,  August  3,  1885,  at  11 
o'clock  A.  M.  The  processional  hymn  being  ended, 
Bishop  Williams  began  the  Communion-service,  the  Col- 
lect being  that  for  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude's  Day.  The 
Epistle  (that  for  St.  Mark's  Day)  was  read  by  the  Rev. 
Prof.  Samuel  Hart  of  Trinity  College,  and  the  Gospel 
(that  for  St.  Matthias's  Day),  by  the  Rev.  Sylvester 
Clarke,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Bridgeport.  After 
the  Creed,  the  Bishop  delivered  this  address : 

The  third  of  August,  1785,  was  a  memorable 
day  for  this  diocese  and  for  our  whole  Church. 
For  the  first  time  an  American  Bishop  was  to  hold 
an  ordination  in  the  United  States.  The  event 
carries  us  back,  in  thought,  to  Apostolic  days. 
The  first  act  of  ordination  by  the  Apostles  at 
Jerusalem,  after  the  miracle  of  Pentecost,  was  the 
laying  on  of  hands  upon  the  seven  deacons.  The 
first  ordination  ministered  by  him  who  first  bore 
the  Apostolic  commission  to  this  nation,  was  an 
ordination  —  not  of  seven  indeed,  but  of  four  —  to 
the  diaconate.  The  authority,  the  ministration, 
and  the  order  imparted  were  in  both  cases  the 
same,  separated  though  the  acts  were  by  the  great 
chasm  of  seventeen  centuries.     It  is  good  to  com- 


114  SeabiLiy  Centenary — Co7inecticnt. 

memorate  such  an  event.  It  is  right  to  commemo- 
rate it  in  the  place  in  which  it  occurred.  Such  a 
commemoration  fitly  ends  the  series  of  centenary- 
observances  which  we  began  in  Woodbury  in  the 
spring-tide  of  1883.  For  the  act  of  this  day 
certified  our  fathers  that  what  they  had  sought 
and  cried  out  for  through  long  and  weary  years 
was  gained  at  last;  that  no  longer  did  three 
thousand  miles  of  ocean  separate  them  from  the 
possibility  of  admission  to  the  "  ministry  of  Christ, 
and  the  stewardship  of  the  mysteries  of  God." 

Let  me,  first,  say  something  of  the  place  in 
which  the  service  of  ordination,  and  all  the 
services  and  acts  connected  with  it,  were  held. 
There  stood,  at  that  time,  on  what  used  to  be 
called  the  South  Green  in  this  city,  a  small  wooden 
church  known  as  Christ  Church.  There  are  not 
many  persons,  probably,  now  living  who  remember 
it,  but  a  rough  sketch  of  it,  which  has  been  pre- 
served, has  given  many  who  never  saw  it  an  idea 
at  least  of  what  it  was.  It  was  not  an  altogether 
uno^raceful  buildino:  with  its  arched  windows  — 
regarded  by  many  in  those  days  as  indicating 
Romeward  tendencies  —  and  its  pointed  spire. 
And  it  had  nothing  in  common  with  those  hideous 
combinations  of  packing-box  and  Grecian  portico, 
which  prevailed  many  years  later  on  ;  but  which 
decay  and  fire  and  other  merciful  interferences  and 
visitations  have  made  things  of  the  past. 

It  had  a  story  of  its  own,  too  —  that  old 
church  —  to  tell ;  a  story  of  trial,  perseverance,  and 
success ;  a  story  exactly  parallel  to  that  of  the 
clergy,  and  especially  the  bishop,  who  came 
together  within  its  walls.  About  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  a  number  of  persons  who,  in  the 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  115 

exercise  of  that  "  freedom  to  worship  God,"  which 
has  been  claimed  as  the  pecuHar  glory  of  New 
England,  had  declared  themselves  to  be  attached 
to  the  Church  of  England,  petitioned  the  town 
authorities  to  grant  them  a  piece  of  ground  on 
which  they  might  erect  a  church.  Their  applica- 
tion was  refused.  After  a  time  it  was  renewed, 
and  refused  again.  At  last,  a  building-place  was 
granted  them,  the  situation  of  which  has  just  been 
mentioned.  It  was  a  marshy  spot,  on  which  few 
persons  believed  that  any  building  could  ever  be 
erected.  It  is  strangely  noticeable,  however,  that 
a  great  many  things  which  never  can  be  done,  are 
nevertheless  somehow  brought  about,  especially 
in  the  progress  of  the  Church.  So  it  was  here. 
Careful  drainage  overcame  the  natural  lack  of 
adaptation,  and,  though  the  work  met  with  delays 
and  draw^backs,  the  church  was  completed  in  1755. 
It  is  a  tradition  of  the  time  that  when  the  frame  of 
the  building  was  raised,  the  shout  that  burst  from 
the  lips  of  those  engaged  in  or  watching  the  work 
was  so  loud  and  joyous  that  it  might  have  been 
heard  for  the  distance  of  a  mile.  Verily,  good 
people  of  this  parish,  if  your. predecessors  could 
not  say  that  they  had  been  brought  "  through  fire," 
they  could  at  least  say  that  they  had  been  "brought 
through  water  to  a  wealthy  place " ;  wealthy, 
not  in  this  world's  goods,  but  in  those  spiritual 
gifts  which  are  the  eternal  dowry  of  the  Bride  of 
Christ. 

So  much  for  the  place.  Next  let  us  look  at 
those  who  came  together.  If  the  place  of  meeting 
had  been  hardly  won,  those  men  had  "  endured 
hardness  as  good  soldiers  of  Christ."  Foremost, 
in  the  full  maturitv   of  his  manhood,    stands  the 


Il6  Seabiiry  Ce7itenary — Connecticut. 

newly  consecrated  bishop.  He  is  in  his  fifty-sixth 
year.  And  inasmuch  as  the  picture  with  which  we 
are  all  familiar  was  painted  while  he  was  in  London, 
we  no  doubt  see  him  there  as  he  was  here  in 
Middletown,  a  century  ago.  And  a  goodly  sight 
it  is ;  the  sight  of  one  who  looked,  and  was,  every 
inch  a  bishop. 

Jeremiah  Leaming  comes  next  to  view.  But  for 
his  advanced  age,  and  the  fact  that  imprisonment 
in  a  damp  and  noisome  cell  had  made  him  a  crip- 
ple for  life,  he  would  have  stood  in  Seabury's  place 
as  our  first  bishop.  He  is  now  in  his  sixty-eighth 
year,  having  been  born  in  Durham  in  171 7.  He 
lived  to  the  age  of  nearly  eighty-eight,  and  one  who 
remembered  him  in  his  latest  years  says :  "  He 
rises  to  my  mind  the  very  ideal  of  age  and  decrepi- 
tude —  a  small,  emaciated  old  man,  very  lame,  his 
ashen  and  withered  features  surmounted  some- 
times by  a  cap,  and  sometimes  by  a  small  wig  — 
always  quiet  and  gentle  in  his  manner."  Such  a 
condition  as  is  here  described  is  still,  however,  in 
the  future  for  him.  He  is  still  vigorous  enough  to 
preside  in  the  convention  of  the  clergy,  until  the 
new  bishop  takes  that  place,  and  to  preach  what 
was  called,  in  the  quaint  phraseology  of  the  day, 
"  a  well  adapted  "  ordination   sermon. 

We  turn  to  the  secretary  of  the  convention, 
Abraham  Jarvis,  who  will  in  time  become  the 
second  bishop  of  this  diocese.  He  has  just 
entered  on  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  rectorship 
of  this  parish,  a  position  which  he  will  hold  for 
fourteen  more  years.  He  is  described,  by  one  who 
knew  him,  as  having  "  an  uncommon  tact  at  public 
business,  and  in  a  talent  at  drafting  petitions, 
memorials,    etc.,    having   few,    if    any,    superiors." 


Service  at  Middieiozvn,  August  3,  1885. 


Most,  if  not  all,  of  the  excellent  papers  connected 
with  the  negotiations  for  the  Episcopate  were 
drawn  up  by  him,  and  on  him  devolved  nearly  all 
the  correspondence  to  which  the  negotiations  gave 
rise. 

Nine  others  of  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  were 
present,  and  with  them  two  from  other  places  — 
the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore  of  New  York,  who  came 
in  po  official  capacity,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker 
of  Boston,  who  appeared  as  representing  the  clergy 
of  Massachusetts.  Dr.  Moore  was  afterwards  the 
second  Bishop  of  New  York,  and  Dr."  Parker  the 
second  Bishop  of  Massachusetts. 

The  clergy  had  assembled  on  the  day  previous, 
August  2nd,  and  Bishop  Seabury  had  presented 
his  letters  of  consecration.  On  the  day  we  are 
commemorating,  the  services  began  with  the  recep- 
tion and  recognition  of  the  bishop.  Four  of  the 
clergy  repaired  to  the  parsonage,  which  stood 
nearly  where  the  house  of  the  Hon.  Benjamin 
Douglas  now  stands,  bearing  with  them  the 
declaration  of  the  clergy  then  convened,  that  "  they 
confirmed  their  former  election,  and  acknowledged 
and  received  Dr.  Seabury  as  their  Episcopal  head. 
Two  of  the  four  immediately  carried  back  to 
the  convention  the  answer  of  acceptance  by  the 
bishop,  while  the  other  tw^o  follow^ed  in  attendance 
upon  him,  and  conducted  him  to  the  church." 
Here,  sitting  near  the  Holy  Table,  with  the  clergy 
gathered  before  him,  he  listened  to  their  address, 
which  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hubbard  of  New 
Haven.     I  quote  from  it  three  striking  passages. 

Their  recognition  of  their  new  bishop  was  made 
in  these  words  :  "  We,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty 
God,  declare  to  the  world,  that  we  do  unanimously 


Seabu ry  Ceii tenary —  Connecticut. 


and  voluntarily  accept  and  receive  you  to  be  02ir 
Bishop,  supreme  in  the  government  of  the  Church, 
and  in  the  administration  of  all  ecclesiastical 
offices.  And  we  do  solemnly  engage  to  render 
you  all  that  respect,  duty,  and  submission,  which 
we  believe  do  belong  and  are  due  to  your  high 
office,  and  which,  we  understand,  were  given  by 
the  presbyters  to  their  bishop  in  the  Primitive 
Church  while,  in  her  native  purity,  she  was  uncon- 
nected with,  and  uncontrolled  by,  any  secular 
power." 

After  describing  the  earnest  attempts  to  obtain 
the  Episcopate  from  England,  and  the  final  failure 
of  the  attempts,  they  add  :  "  We  hope  that  the 
successors  of  the  Apostles  in  the  Church  of 
England  have  sufficient  reasons  to  justify  them- 
selves to  the  world  and  to  God.  We,  however, 
know  of  none  such,  nor  can  our  imagination  frame 
any." 

At  the  close  of  the  address,  after  blessing  God 
for  the  way  opened  in  Scotland,  whose  bishops  had 
freely  given  what  they  had  freely  received,  they 
add,  out  of  their  full  hearts,  burning  words  of  grat- 
itude, and  say :  "  Wherever  the  American  Episco- 
pal Church  shall  be  mentioned  in  the  world,  may 
this  good  deed  which  they  have  done  for  us,  be 
spoken  of  for  a  memorial  of  them." 

To  this  address  the  bishop  made  a  brief,  but 
sufficient  and  dignified  reply,  expressing,  among 
other  things,  his  reliance'  on  the  "  ready  advice  and 
assistance  "  of  the  clergy  in  the  discharge  of  his 
office ;  so  foreshadowing  the  character  of  his 
Episcopate. 

The  ordination  was  then  proceeded  with,  and 
the   four   deacons    were    ordained.     Dr.  Leaming 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  119 

preached  the  sermon,  as  I  have  already  said,  and 
Mr.  Jarvis  "officiated  as  archdeacon  "  and  presented 
the  candidates.  The  order  of  service  differed 
somewhat  in  arrangement,  but  in  nothing  else, 
from  our  order  as  it  stands  to-day.  But  the 
changes  are  not  material  enough  to  require  any 
mention. 

The  ordination  ended,  the  bishop  dissolved  the 
convention  and  directed  the  clergy  to  meet  him  in 
convocation  at  a  later  hour.  This  was  the  first 
convocation  of  the  clergy  of  this  diocese.  They 
had  before  come  together  by  their  own  agreement ; 
now  they  were  called  together  by  their  chief  pas- 
tor. These  meetings  of  the  clergy  continued  till 
within  my  own  memory,  though  they  had  ceased 
before  I  was  consecrated,  nor  do  I  remember  ever 
to  have  attended  one  as  either  deacon  or  presbyter. 
They  were  usually  held,  I  believe,  in  connection 
with  the  sessions  of  the  Diocesan  Convention. 

Of  those  who  were  admitted  on  that  third  of 
August  to  the  diaconate,  another  will  speak  to 
vou  as  I  could  not,  so  that  little  remains  for  me  to 
add. 

We  can  scarcely  now  imagine  to  ourselves  the 
mingled  joy  and  doubt,  hopes  and  fears,  thankful- 
ness and  uncertainty,  that  filled  the  minds  and 
agitated  the  hearts  of  those  who  came  together 
here  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  great  point,  no 
doubt,  was  gained ;  but  w^hat  was  to  follow } 
Would  the  consecration  of  Seabury  be  everywhere 
accepted  1  or  would  there  be  those  who  would 
reject  it  because  an  Act  of  Parliament  had  estab- 
lished Presbyterianism  in  Scotland,  and  other  Acts 
of  Parliament  had  proscribed  the  Scotch  Episco- 
pate .'^     Would   all    churchmen   in  all  the  thirteen 


120  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticut. 

States  of  the  Confederation  be  united  in  one  body? 
Or  were  there  such  discordant  elements,  that  they 
who  held  to  the  Apostolic  Faith  and  Order  would 
be  thrust  out  ?  Was  there  vitality  enough  in  the 
Church  in  Connecticut  to  live  and  grow?  Or, 
when  they  who  composed  it  then  were  gone,  would 
it  dwindle  and  die  out?  No  man  could  have 
answered  those  questions  then;  God  has  answered 
them  since.  And  as  we  run  back  along  the  story 
of  the  years  that  have  written  out  the  answer  which 
we  read  this  day,  w^e  come  at  last  to  that  day,  so 
truly  memorable,  and  to  the  bishop,  the  clergy,  the 
candidates,  who  then  assembled  to  take  their  sev- 
eral parts  in  the  first  Episcopal  Ordination  in 
America. 

In  the  library  of  Trinity  College  is  preserved 
—  many  of  us  must  have  seen  it  —  Bishop  Sea- 
bury 's  Mitre.  I  am  sure  I  cannot  better  express 
what  may  be  called  our  culminating  thought  to- 
day, than  by  quoting  some  lines  written  by  the 
Bishop  of  Western  New  York  on  that  venerable 
relic : 

"  The  rod  that  from  Jerusalem 

Went  forth  so  strong  of  yore, 
That  rod  of  David's  royal  stem, 

Whose  hand  the  farthest  bore  ? 
St.  Paul  to  seek  the  setting  sun, 

They  say,  to  Britain  prest ; 
St.  Andrew  to  old  Calidon, 

But  who  still  farther  West  ? 

"  Go  ask  !  a  thousand  tongues  shall  tell 

His  name  and  dear  renown. 
Where  altar,  font,  and  holy  bell 

Are  gifts  he  handed  down ; 
A  thousand  hearts  keep  warm  the  name, 

Which  share  those  gifts  so  blest ; 
Yet  even  this  may  tell  the  same, 

First  mitre  of  the  West  I 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  121 

"  Aye  !   keep  it  for  this  mighty  West 

Till  truth  shall  glorious  be, 
And  good  old  Samuel's  is  confest 

Columbia's  primal  see. 
'Tis  better  than  a  diadem, 

The  crown  that  liishop  wore, 
Whose  hand  the  rod  of  Jesse's  stem 

The  farthest  westward  bore  !  " 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley  then  read  the  following  bio- 
graphical account  of  the  four  candidates  adnnitted  to  the 
diaconate  by  Bishop  Seabury  at  his  first  ordination  : 

Of  the  candidates  ordained  in  Middletown 
on  the  third  of  August,  1785,  Colin  Fergu- 
son was  the  only  one  not  of  Connecticut.  He 
came  from  Maryland,  and  the  testimonials 
recommending  him  were  signed  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  William  Smith,  afterwards  president  of 
the  House  of  Deputies,  and  others  of  that  State. 
He  was  born  in  Kent  County,  and  was  the  son  of 
a  Scotsman  who  emigrated  to  this  country  and 
maintained  a  respectable  character  but  never  rose 
to  affluent  circumstances.  An  opportunity  occurred 
for  the  youth  to  accompany  a  Scottish  school- 
master about  to  return  to  Edinburgh,  and  he  gladly 
availed  himself  of  it  and  thus  obtained  a  classical 
education  without  expense  to  his  father.  After 
several  years  spent  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh, 
he  came  back  to  America  with  a  good  reputation 
for  scholarship,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  had 
the  ministry  in  mind  so  early  as  this.  He  found 
employment  as  an  instructor,  and  upon  the  estab- 
lishment of  Washington  College,  Chestertown, 
Md.,  in  1782,  he  was  chosen  a  professor  in  it, 
and  held  the  place  until  Dr.  Smith,  the  president 
or  principal,  returned  to  Philadelphia,  when  he  was 
promoted  to  the  headship  of  the  institution.  It 
II 


122  '        Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

was  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Smith  that  he 
studied  theology,  and  his  ministerial  labors  were 
chiefly  limited  to  St.  Paul's  Parish,  Kent  County, 
of  which  for  sometime  he  had  the  charge  in  addi- 
tion to  his  college  duties.  The  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  was  conferred  upon  him  shortly  after 
his  ordination  by  the  institution  with  which  he 
was  connected,  and  was  a  deserved  honor  on  the 
score  of  learning.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
August  General  Convention  of  1789,  and  signed  as 
one  of  the  delegation  from  Maryland  the  "  Resolves  " 
of  that  body  which  led  to  the  final  union  and 
settlement  of  the  Church  in  all  the  States. 

About  the  year  1804,  the  Legislature  of  Maryland 
passed  enactments  which  deprived  the  college  of 
the  means  of  a  liberal  support,  and  Dr.  Ferguson 
thereupon  resigned  his  office  and  "  retired  to  his 
farm  in  the  vicinity  of  Georgetown  Cross  Roads, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life."  He 
died  of  paralysis  on  the  lothof  March,  1806,  in  the 
55  th  year  of  his  age. 

"  As  a  preacher,"  says  one  ^  who  was  his  pupil 
for  seven  years  and  had  constant  opportunities  to 
make  observations  upon  his  character,  "  I  cannot 
say  he  possessed  any  remarkable  power.  His 
sermons,  as.  specimens  of  composition,  were  of  a 
high  order,  creditable  to  him  as  a  scholar  and  a 
writer,  but  .  .  .  they  were  not  strongly  marked  by 
an  evangelical  tone.  Perhaps  I  should  not  do  him 
injustice,  if  I  w^as  to  say  that  his  sermons,  in  this 
respect,  were  not  very  unlike  those  of  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Hugh  Blair." 

I  take  the  names  of  the  candidates  in  the  order 

^  p.  Worth,  in  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Episcopal  Pulpit^  p.  344. 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  123 

in  which  they  lie  in  the  Registry  Book  of  Bishop 
Seabury  —  not  that  this  order  determines  the 
actual  order  of  ordination,  for  I  am  confident  it 
does  not. 

Henry  Van  Dyck  was  born  in  the  city  of  New 
York  in  1 744,  and  was  the  only  son  of  his  parents. 
He  graduated  from  King's  (now  Columbia)  College 
in  1 76 1,  when  the  institution  was  in  charge  of  its 
first  president,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson. 
After  graduating,  he  studied  law  and  located  him- 
self in  Stratford,  Conn.,  whither  the  family  had 
removed  and  become  settled.  He  married  Hul- 
dah  Lewis  of  that  place,  August  9,  1767,  and  on 
the  sixth  day  of  the  ensuing  month,  he  and  his  wife 
were  admitted  as  communicants  in  Christ  Church, 
which  was  then  under  the  rectorship  of  Dr. 
Johnson  for  the  second  time,  he  having  resigned 
the  college  and  returned  to  Stratford. 

It  does  not  appear  that  he  had  much  success  in 
the  legal  profession,  and  he  wrote  his  discourage- 
ments to  William  Samuel  Johnson,  special  colonial 
agent  from  Connecticut,  then  in  London,  who 
confided  in  his  integrity  and  had  entrusted  him 
with  the  collection  of  some  debts  that  were  his 
due.  In  his  reply,  Johnson  said :  "  It  gives  me 
concern  to  find  that  you  have  not  met  with  that 
obliging  behaviour  from  the  profession  which  you 
expected ;  those  men  at  the  bar  have,  I  believe, 
most  of  them  experienced  the  friendly  assistance  of 
those  who  have  gone  before  them,  and  should  not 
therefore  in  point  of  gratitude  refuse  it  to  help 
those  who  are  coming  forward  and  to  succeed  them, 
not  to  mention  that  it  is  exceedingly  ungenerous 
and  illiberal  to  endeavour  to  cramp  rising  genius, 
or   use    any  attempts  to  monopolize  a  profession 


124  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

which  should  be  ever  open  to  men  of  merit,  and 
especially  those  who  enter  into  it  in  the  regular 
methods  of  education.  You  will  find,  however, 
that  nothing  will  so  effectually  overcome  any 
difficulties,  prejudices,  or  inconveniences  of  this 
nature  as  the  course  you  say  you  are  in,  and  in 
which  therefore  you  will  by  all  means  persevere,  of 
an  assiduous,  careful  attention  to  your  lousiness  and 
an  upright,  diligent  conduct  in  every  branch  of 
your  profession.  This  will  secure  you  in  the 
possession  of  the  business  you  have,  and  increase 
it,  enable  you  to  transact  it  with  ease  and  honor, 
and  by  degrees  enforce  the  complaisance  at  least, 
if  not  the  esteem,  of  those  who  by  some  slights  and 
little  negligences  wished  to  have  depressed  you, 
and  by  that  means  perhaps  secured  to  themselves 
a  greater  proportion  of  business. 

"  I  sincerely  give  you  and  Mrs.  Van  Dyck  joy 
upon  your  marriage,  and  hope  you  will  long,  very 
long,  enjoy  all  the  blessings  of  the  connubial  state, 
which  I  have  ever  esteemed  essential  to  human 
happiness.  It  would  have  given  me  an  additional 
pleasure  to  have  known  that  your  father  had  con- 
sented to  it,  and  though  it  seems  he  would  not,  I 
still  hope  he  may  yet  see  such  happy  effects  of  the 
measure  as  to  approve  it  and  be  convinced  by  its 
consequences  that  he  ought  not  to  have  been  so 
inflexibly  averse  to  it."^ 

Mr.  Van  Dyck  continued  the  practice  of  law  until 
about  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution- 
ary War.  He  was  brought  forward  as  a  lay-reader 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Kneeland, 
successor  in  the  Church  at  Stratford  to  the  Rev. 

^  Ms.  Letter,  November  23,  1767. 


Service  at  Middletowiiy  August  3,  1885.  125 

Dr.  Johnson  whose  granddaughter,  Charity,  he 
had  married.  From  the  records  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Milford,  it  appears 
that  at  a  vestry  meeting,  held  April  17,  1776,  after 
electing  wardens  and  vestrymen,  Mr.  Kneeland 
being  present,  it  was  "voted  that  Mr.  Henry 
Van  Dyke  be  desired  to  read  prayers  on  such  Sun- 
days as  Dr.  Kneeland  shall  be  absent,  and  that  we 
will  see  him  rewarded  for  his  trouble."  This  was 
done  with  entire  unanimity  by  the  advice  and  con 
sent  of  Mr.  Kneeland.  An  item  in  a  publication 
of  the  time,  under  date  of  August,  1779,  though 
incorrect  in  reporting  him  as  a  clergyman,  gives 
evidence  that  he  had  ceased  to  pursue  the  legal 
profession :  "  The  Rev.  Henry  Van  Dyke  is  at 
Norwalk,  and  wants  to  go  to  Long  Island  with  his 
family." 

After  the  independence  of  the  colonies  had 
been  declared,  the  full  use  of  the  liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England  was  no  longer  tolerated,  and 
for  ten  years  there  was  seldom  any  assembling  for 
prayers  or  preaching  or  any  new  choice  of  officers 
in  the  Church  at  Milford.  But  in  January,  1786, 
Mr.  Van  Dyck,  being  then  in  Holy  Orders,  pro- 
posed to  take  the  care  of  the  churches  in  Milford 
and  West  Haven,  and  his  proposition  was  acceded 
to  at  a  salary  of  ^90  per  annum;  Milford  agreeing 
to  pay  two-thirds  of  it  and  West  Haven  the  remain- 
der. He  removed  with  his  family  to  Milford  in 
the  May  following,  and  the  church  thought  itself 
happily  provided  with  a  "  pasture  "  for  life. 

In  this,  however,  there  was  disappointment,  for  in 
February,  1787,  "the  appearance  of  a  committee 
from  Poughkeepsie  "  to  secure  him  as  rector  in  that 
place  and    Fishkill,  made    the   people  of    Milford 


126  Seabiiry  Centenaiy — Connecticut. 

and  West  Haven  somewhat  indignant.  They 
claimed  that  his  engagement  with  them  was  for  a 
longer  period,  while  he  affirmed  that  it  terminated 
at  the  end  of  the  year.  He  had  been  in  treaty 
with  the  Church  at  Poughkeepsie  for  some  time, 
and  visited  and  officiated  in  it  before  he  was  in 
Holy  Orders.  The  records  show  that  he  con- 
ducted divine  service  in  Christ  Church  as  early  as 
June,  1784,  and  that  the  congregation  desired  the 
vestry  to  adopt  such  measures  in  conjunction  with 
their  brethren  of  Trinity  Church,  Fishkill,  as  might 
be  proper  for  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Van  Dyck. 
The  arrangement  was  completed  by  offering  him 
as  compensation  the  use  of  the  glebe,  containing 
more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  and  ^80 
New  York  currency  from  the  parish  in  Pough- 
keepsie and  ^40  from  Fishkill.  They  wished  him 
to  come  whether  in  orders  or  not,  but  nothing 
more  was  heard  of  him  till  he  addressed  a  letter 
dated  Stratford,  May  22,  1785,  to  the  vestry  of 
Christ  Church,  requesting  certificates  and  testimo- 
nials which  would  entitle  him  to  ordination  by 
Bishop  Seabury  who  was  already  in  Nova  Scotia 
and  "  momentarily  expected  "  in  Connecticut. 
"  Our  ordination,"  he  said,  "  will  take  place  imme- 
diately on  his  arrival,  for  which  we  are  making  all 
possible  preparation,  after  which  w^e  shall  repair  to 
our  several  congregations  as  soon  as  we  can." 
The  preparation  was  probably  under  the  direction 
and  oversight  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Leaming,  the  first 
choice  of  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  for  bishop. 

On  the  second  Sunday  after  his  ordination,  in 
fulfilment  of  a  promise  which  he  had  made,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Van  Dyck  visited  the  church  in  Fishkill, 
but  he  was  only  a  bird  of  passage   in  doing  this. 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  127 

His  private  affairs  were  in  the  way.  He  had 
become  indebted  to  a  gentleman  in  New  York  to 
the  amount  of  ^125,  and  under  the  trespass  law  of 
the  State,  if  he  entered  it  and  remained,  he  was 
liable  to  arrest  and  imprisonment.  The  Legisla- 
ture, by  vote,  permitted  him  to  return,  and  finally 
an  amicable  adjustment  was  effected  with  the 
creditor  through  the  agency  of  the  vestry  in 
Poughkeepsie,  and  he  was  established  as  rector 
of  Christ  Church,  Whitsunday,  May  27,  1787,  and 
continued  in  charge  till  1791.  He  then  removed 
to  New  Jersey  and  became  rector  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Amboy,  and  Christ  Church,  New  Bruns- 
wick;  but  in  July,  1793,  he  accepted  the  rector- 
ship of  St.  Mary's,  Burlington,  which  he  held  for 
three  years.  His  residence  in  this  place  was  sad- 
dened by  painful  domestic  afflictions.  The  death 
of  his  widowed  mother,  who  had  been  an  inmate  of 
his  family  for  many  years,  followed  by  that  of  two 
of  his  daughters  under  peculiarly  sorrowful  circum- 
stances, must  have  made  him  quite  willing  to  leave 
Burlington,  and  assume,  in  1797,  the  charge  of  St. 
James's  Church,  Newtown,  L.  I.  Here  he  con- 
tinued to  ofticiate  for  five  years,  and  he  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  clergyman  who  devoted  his 
entire  services  to  that  parish.  This  was  his  last 
and  longest  rectorship,  for  he  left  Newtown  in 
1802,  and  on  the  12th  of  September  in  that  year 
he  conducted  the  services  in  Grace  Church, 
Jamaica,  then  vacant,  "and  offered  to  officiate 
further." 

Davis,^  in    his   travels    in    the    United    States, 
speaks  thus  vividly  of  a  visit  he  made  to  Newtown, 

^  John  Davis,  Travels  of  four    Years  and  a  half  in  the  United  States 
(179S-1802),  p.  155. 


128  Seabiiry  Centenaiy — Conneciictit. 

and  of  his  entertainment  in  the  place :  "  I  was  for- 
tunate enough  to  procure  lodgings  at  Newtown 
under  the  roof  of  the  Episcopal  minister,  Mr.  Van- 
dyke. The  parsonage-house  was  not  unpleasantly 
situated.  The  porch  was  shaded  by  a  couple  of 
huge  locust  trees,  and  accommodated  with  a  long 
bench.  Here  I  often  sat  with  my  host,  who  like 
Parson  Adams  always  wore  the  cassock ;  but  he 
did  not  read  ^schylus.  Mr.  Vandyke  was  at 
least  sixty ;  yet  if  a  colt,  a  pig,  or  any  other  quad- 
ruped entered  his  paddock,  he  sprang  from  his 
seat  with  more  than  youthful  agility,  and  vocifer- 
ously chased  the  intruder  from  his  domain.  I 
could  not  but  smile  to  behold  the  parson  running 
after  a  pig  and  mingling  his  cries  with  those  of  the 
animal." 

The  New  York  Evening  Post  of  September  17, 
1804,  contained  this  obituary:  "Died  early  this 
morning,  the  Rev.  Henry  Van  Dyck,  aged  sixty, 
one  of  the  clergy  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  formerly  rector  of  St.  James's  Church, 
Newtown.  He  was  possessed  of  an  affectionate 
heart  and  excellent  understanding.  He  discharged 
with  zeal,  fidelity,  and  ability,  the  duties  of  his  call- 
ing. In  private  life  he  was  esteemed  by  all  to 
whom  he  was  known.  Funeral  this  afternoon  at 
five  o'clock  from  his  house,  No.  4  Cedar  street. 
New  York,  where  his  friends  and  acquaintances  are 
invited  to  attend." 

It  is  stated  in  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hills's  History  of  the 
Church  in  Burlington,  p.  339,  that  two  children 
survived  him  —  "a  son  and  a  daughter ;  Richard 
Vandyke  married,  had  a  large  family,  and  lived  to 
a  good  old  age.     He  died  in  1856."     The  death  of 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  129 

the  daughter,  who  never  married,  occurred  thirty 
years  earher. 

AsHBEL  Baldwin  was  born  in  a  farm-house  on 
the  hills  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  March  7,  1757. 
His  father,  Isaac  Baldwin,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College  in  the  class  of  1735,  and  an  older  brother, 
who  bore  the  paternal  name,  was  graduated  in 
1774.  Ashbel  was  later,  graduating  in  1776,  the 
year  of  the  Declaration  of  American  Independ- 
ence. Isaac  Baldwin  the  senior,  on  leaving  college, 
began  the  study  of  theology  and  was  licensed  as  a 
Congregational  minister,  and  preached  for  a  time 
in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Washington,  Conn.^ 
But  he  soon  relinquished  the  study,  and  turned  his 
attention  to  agricultural  pursuits,  settling  upon  a 
farm  in  Litchfield,  and  becoming  an  eminently 
useful  official  in  the  public  affairs  of  the  town  and 
county. 

His  son  Ashbel  contracted  a  lameness  in  boy- 
hood by  going  into  the  water  and  imprudently 
exposing  himself  to  a  cold,  which  stiffened  and 
shortened  one  of  his  limbs  and  made  his  gait 
ever  afterward  unequal  and  limping.  He  had  not 
relinquished  his  attachment  to  the  Congregational 
order  when  he  graduated  and  subsequently  took  a 
temporary  tutorship  in  a  Church  family  on  Long 
Island.  Stanch  churchmen  in  those  days,  if  for 
any  cause  the  parish  church  was  closed  on  Sunday, 
turned  their  parlors  into  chapels,  and  had  in 
private  the  full  morning  service.  Mr.  Baldwin, 
being  the  educated  member  of  the  household,  was 
required  to  act  as  lay-reader,  and  not  knowing  how 
to  use  the  Prayer-Book,  and  yet  ashamed  to  con- 

'  Dexter's  Yale  Biographies  and  Annals,  1701-1745;  p.  523. 


130  Seabury  Centenary — Connecticnt. 

fess  his  ignorance  to  the  head  of  the  family,  he 
sought  the  assistance  and  friendship  of  the  gar- 
dener, who  gave  him  the  necessary  instructions, 
and  very  soon  love  and  admiration  of  the  Liturgy 
and  conversion  to  the  Church  followed.  How  long 
he  continued  in  his  private  tutorship  is  unknown. 

For  two  or  three  years  during  the  Revolution- 
ary War  he  held  the  appointment  of  a  quarter- 
master in  the  Continental  army,  and  was  stationed 
for  a  time  at  Litchfield,  where  there  was  a  large 
depository  of  military  stores,  "principally  taken  at 
the  surrender  of  General  Burgoyne,"  and  guarded 
by  a  considerable  detachment  of  soldiers.  For  his 
services  in  this  capacity  he  received  a  pension  from 
government,  which  became  his  principal  means  of 
support  in  the  last  year  of  his  life. 

Upon  the  cessation  of  hostilities  and  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  Independence,  he  applied  him- 
self to  theological  studies,  and  though  but  a  can- 
didate for  Holy  Orders,  he  was  an  interested 
spectator  at  the  n-ieeting  of  the  clergy  in  Wood- 
bury on  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  1783,  when 
choice  was  made  of  the  first  bishop  of  Connecticut 

On  Monday,  June  20,  1785,  Bishop  Seabury 
arrived  at  Newport,  R.  L,  after  a  voyage  from  Lon- 
don of  three  months,  including  his  stay  in  Nova 
Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  and  reaching  his 
future  home  in  Connecticut  a  week  later,  prepa- 
rations were  immediately  begun  to  meet  his  clergy 
and  hold  his  first  ordination.  Of  the  four  candi- 
dates admitted  by  him  to  the  diaconate  in  this 
city  a  century  ago  to-day.  Van  Dyck,  Baldwin, 
and  Shelton  belonged  to  Connecticut,  and  were 
recommended  by  its  clergy,  of  whom  in  con- 
vention   assembled  the    Rev.    Jeremiah    Leaming 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  131 

was  president.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  sent  at  once  to 
his  native  place,  and  continued  in  charge  of  St. 
Michael's  Church,  Litchfield,  till  1793,  when  he 
resigned  and  accepted  the  rectorship  of  the  vener- 
able parish  at  Stratford.  He  was  instrumental  in 
awakening  the  zeal  of  the  Episcopalians  of  Litch- 
field county,  and  leading  them  to  re-open  their 
churches  after  the  desolations  of  the  war  as  well 
as  to  project  new  ones.  His  recognized  position 
in  the  diocese  was  early  one  of  influence  and 
responsibility,  and  his  energy  and  facility  in  the 
dispatch  of  business  made  him  especially  useful  in 
the  deliberative  and  legislative  assemblies  of  the 
Church.  He  was  chosen  Secretary  of  the  Con- 
vention of  the  Diocese  of  Connecticut  in  1 796,  and 
continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  that  office  for 
a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years.  He  was  a  deputy 
to  the  General  Convention  for  an  equally  long 
period,  and  held  the  office  of  Secretary  in  the 
House  of  Deputies,  from  which  he  retired  in  1823 
with  the  thanks  of  that  body  "  for  his  long  and 
faithful  services." 

As  the  General  Convention  of  1 799  was  the  first 
which  Mr.  Baldwin  attended  in  the  capacity  of  a 
deputy,  so  that  of  1823  was  the  last.  He  was  con- 
spicuous in  that  council  for  remarkable  self- 
possession,  and  promptness  and  facility  in  giving 
expression  to  his  opinions.  The  type  of  his 
theology  led  him  to  take  the  "  old  paths,"  and 
reverence  for  the  memory  of  the  bishop  who 
ordained  him  held  him  up  to  a  high  standard  of 
legislation  for  the  Church.  He  would  have  her 
doctrines  and  discipline  well  defined  and  guarded, 
and  his  first  action  in  the  House  of  Deputies  was 
to  move  a  resolution  to  take  into  consideration  the 


132  Seabury  Cejitetiary — Connecticut. 

propriety  of  framing  Articles  of  Religion.  He 
lived  at  a  period  when  Puritanism  was  rife  in  New 
England,  especially  in  Connecticut,  and  while  it 
was  his  policy  to  avoid  being  drawn  into  contro- 
versy, his  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  never  faltered  or  became  doubtful 
under  any  pressure  of  circumstances.  He  was  a 
parson  without  the  smallest  trace  of  bigotry,  and 
attracted  and  retained  the  affections  of  all  who 
were  privileged  to  know  him  well  in  his  private 
and  official  capacity.  He  was  a  good  reader  of  the 
Liturgy,  an  instructive,  if  not  a  learned  preacher, 
and  had  a  clear,  sonorous  voice,  and  a  persuasive 
manner  w^hich  rendered  his  discourses  acceptable 
to  all  classes  of  people.  His  best  and  happiest 
days  were  passed  in  Stratford,  where  for  over 
thirty  years  he  held  the  rectorship  of  the  parish 
which  had  been  served  by  those  two  eminent 
divines,  Johnson  and  Learning. 

For  a  portion  of  the  time  he  had  this  parish  in 
connection  with  the  neighboring  one  at  Tashua, 
ministering  to  the  latter  every  third  Sunday,  and 
holding  frequent  services  in  school-houses  and 
private  dwellings.  His  mode  of  travelling  was  in 
a  chaise,  and  on  one  occasion  he  drove  up  rather 
hurriedly  to  meet  an  appointment  at  a  house  where 
the  people  had  already  assembled,  and  stepping 
nimbly  down  from  his  seat  he  was  accosted  by  the 
host  who  was  not  a  churchman :  "  I  suppose,  Mr. 
Baldwin,  as  it  is  the  season  of  Lent,  you  will  not 
take  any  refreshments  before  beginning  the  service." 
"  No,  nothing  for  me,"  was  the  reply ;  "  but  my 
horse  is  a  Presbyterian ;  he  must  be  fed." 

Mr.  Baldwin  was  a  man  of  keen  discernment, 
quick  apprehensions,  and  ready  retort.     In  social 


Service  at  Middletoivn,  August  3,  1885.  I33 

intercourse  he  had  wonderful  powers  of  adapting 
himself  to  circumstances,  and  was  alike  an  accept- 
able visitor  in  the  families  of  the  wealthy  and 
refined,  the  humble  and  the  uneducated,  and  a 
welcome  guest  at  their  tables.  It  was  his  practice, 
as  it  was  the  practice  of  many  of  the  clergy  in  that 
day,  to  administer  baptism  in  private  houses,  using 
the  occasion  of  a  lecture  to  make  the  oflfice  a  pub- 
lic one.  Very  often  whole  households  were  bap- 
tized in  this  way,  and  sometimes  their  connection 
with  the  Church  was  afterwards  unfortunately  lost 
through  neglect  to  exercise  a  proper  degree  of 
vigilance  and  care. 

Mr.  Baldwin  married  Miss  Clarissa  Johnson  of 
Guilford,  a  grand-niece  of  his  predecessor  in  Strat- 
ford, the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson.  She  died  child- 
less many  years  before  him,  and  he  never  married 
again.  He  was  in  the  full  possession  of  his  mental 
faculties  and  blessed  with  a  fair  degree  of  health 
when  he  resigned,  in  1824,  the  Rectorship  of 
Christ  Church.  For  a  time  he  lingered  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Stratford,  but  could  not  be  idle, 
and  was  soon  in  charge  of  the  parish  in  Meriden, 
and  afterwards  officiated  in  several  places,  as 
Tashua,  Wallingford,  North  Haven,  Oxford,  and 
Quakers'  Farms.  Ten  years  were  thus  passed, 
doing  what  he  could  for  the  Church  which  he  had 
served  so  faithfully  and  loved  so  much;  but  in 
1834  failure  of  eyesight  and  other  infirmities 
obliged  him  to  cease  from  all  public  service  and  go 
into  retirement.  It  was  natural  for  him  to  dwell 
for  the  rest  of  his  days  among  or  near  his  old 
parishioners,  and  for  many  years,  as  it  suited  his 
convenience,  he  resided  at  New  Haven,  Bridgeport, 
and  Stratford.     He  was  at  the  latter  place  in  1837, 


134  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

when  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Bishop  Brownell, 
taking  an  affectionate  leave  of  the  Diocesan  Con- 
vention then  sitting  in  New  Haven,  and  resigning 
the  only  ofhce  of  trust  in  its  gift  which  he  had 
continued  to  hold. 

The  letter  was  characteristic  of  the  man,  chaste 
and  beautiful  in  its  style,  and  pathetic  in  its 
allusions.     The  concluding  paragraph  read  : 

^'  My  dear  Sir,  when  I  first  entered  the  Church 
her  condition  was  not  very  flattering.  Surrounded 
by  enemies  on  every  side,  and  opposed  with  much 
virulence,  her  safety  and  even  her  very  existence 
were  at  times  somewhat  questionable ;  but  by  the 
united  and  zealous  exertions  of  the  clergy,  attended 
by  the  blessings  of  her  great  Founder,  she  has 
been  preserved  in  safety  through  every  storm, 
and  now  presents  herself  with  astonishment  to 
every  beholder,  not  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  but 
as  a  beautiful  tree,  spreading  its  salubrious  branches 
over  our  whole  country.  The  Church,  by  a  strict 
adherence  to  its  ancient  landmarks,  its  priesthood, 
its  liturgy,  and  its  government,  has  been  preserved 
from  those  schisms  which  seem  to  threaten  the 
peace  of  a  very  respectable  body  of  Christians  in 
our  country.  May  the  same  unanimity  and  zeal 
which  animated  our  fathers,  still  be  preserved  in 
the  Church.  My  days  of  pilgrimage,  I  know,  are 
almost  closed,  and  I  can  do  no  more  than  to  be  in 
readiness,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  leave  the  Church 
militant  in  peace.  May  I  be  permitted.  Sir,  to  ask 
the  prayers  of  my  bishop  and  his  clergy,  that  my 
last  days  may  be  happy." 

Mr.  Baldwin  went  to  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  a  few 
years  later,  and  became  an  inmate  in  the  family  of 
one  who  had  removed  thither  from  Connecticut, 


Service  at  MiddletowUy  August  3,  1885.  135 

and  who  was  under  special  obligations  to  him  for 
kindness  and  care  bestowed  in  previous  years.  He 
died  in  that  city  on  Sunday,  February  8,  1846, 
lacking  twenty-seven  days  to  complete  his  eighty- 
ninth  year.  There  is  a  memorial  window  erected 
to  him  in  the  chancel  of  Grace  Church,  Long  Hill, 
Conn.,  which  occupies  ground  included  in  the  scene 
of  his  early  ministration. 

Philo  Shelton  was  a  grandson  of  Daniel 
Shelton,  the  founder  of  the  New  England  branch 
of  the  Shelton  family  in  America.  He  was  one  of 
a  family  of  fourteen  children,  and  was  born  in 
Ripton  (now  Huntington)  on  the  7th  of  May,  1754. 
He  received  a  classical  education,  and  was  the 
first  alumnus  of  Yale  ColleQ:e  who  bore  the  name 
of  Shelton.  He  graduated  in  1775,  just  after  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  soon,  as  a 
candidate  for  Holy  Orders,  he  acted  in  the  capacity 
of  a  lay-reader  in  several  places  until  his  ordination. 
When  a  British  expedition  under  the  command  of 
Gen.  Tryon  was  fitted  out  at  New  York  in  1779, 
to  subdue  the  shore-towns  of  Connecticut,  Fair- 
field was  one  of  the  places  invaded,  the  torch  was 
applied  to  the  dwellings  of  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
and  the  Episcopal  church  there,  the  parsonage,  and 
other  property  belonging  to  the  parish  were  con- 
sumed in  the  general  conflagration.  This  destruc- 
tion impoverished  and  depressed  the  people  as  a 
whole,  and  many  of  them  fled ;  but  the  few  church- 
men who  remained  rallied  from  all  discouragement, 
rebuilt  their  houses,  and  met  in  them  on  Sundays 
to  worship  God  according  to  the  forms  of  the  old 
liturgy,  Philo  Shelton  having  been  secured  for  a 
lay-reader.  He  read  at  the  same  time  for  the 
Episcopalians  at  Stratfield,  where  a  wooden  church 


136  ^eabiLvy  Centenary — Connecticut. 

was  built  as  early  as  1748,  and  also  for  those  in 
Weston,  where  the  flock  had  not  been  broken  up 
by  the  disasters  of  the  Revolution. 

While  waiting  for  ordination,  he  settled  in  life 
and  married,  April  20,  1781,  Lucy,  daughter  of 
Philip  Nichols,  Esq.,  of  Stratfield  (now  Bridge- 
port), ^  a  strong  churchman  and  first  lay-delegate 
chosen  to  represent  the  Diocese  of  Connecticut  in 
the  General  Convention.  In  February,  1785,  a 
formal  arrangement  was  made  that  his  services  in 
each  of  the  three  places  should  be  proportioned  to 
the  number  of  churchmen  residing  in  them  respec- 
tively, and  until  he  should  be  in  Orders  it  was 
stipulated  to  pay  him  twenty  shillings  lawful 
money  for  each  day  that  he  officiated.  Ashbel 
Baldwin,  his  nearest  neighbor  in  parochial  work, 
and  most  intimate  friend  and  associate  in  efforts 
to  build  up  the  Church  in  Connecticut,  used  to  say 
that  the  hands  of  Bishop  Seabury  were  first  laid 
upon  the  head  of  Mr.  Shelton  on  the  3d  of  August, 
1785,  so  that  his  name  really  begins  the  long  list 
of  clergy  who  have  had  ordination  in  this  country 
by  bishops  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 
In  the  Diocesan  Convention,  under  an  established 
rule  of  that  body,  he  invariably  outranked  Mr. 
Baldwin,  and  so  was  frequently  the  presiding 
officer  in  the  absence  of  the  Bishop,  which  is 
another  proof  that  he  was  his  senior  by  ordination 
as  well  as  in  years.  At  the  first  convocation  of 
the  clergy  after  the  death  of  Bishop  Jarvis,  held  in 
Stratford,  June  i,  181 3,  Mr.  Baldwin,  as  Secretary, 
entered  the  names  of  twenty-nine  who  were  present, 

1  The  marriage  was  undoubtedly  solemnized  by  the  Rev.  Christopher 
Newton  of  Ripton,  the  only  Church  clergyman  in  the  vicinity,  and  still  Mr. 
Shelton's  rector.     He  baptized  the  first  child,  Lucy,  born  June  27,  1782. 


Service  at  Middletown,  Aligns t  3,  1885.  137 

and  then  recorded :  "  The  Rev.  Doctor  Mansfield 
desired  to  be  excused  from  serving  as  President  on 
account  of  his  age  and  infirmities ;  which  excuse 
was  accepted  by  the  brethren.  The  Rev.  Philo 
Shelton,  being  the  next  oldest  presbyter,  took  the 
chair."  Should  it  be  said  that  this  does  not  refer 
to  the  diaconate,  it  may  be  answered  that  the 
obituary  notice  of  his  widow,  who  died  in  1838, 
speaks  of  him  as  "  iliQjirst  clergyman  ordained  by 
the  first  American  Bishop." 

After  his  admission  to  Holy  Orders,  according 
to  his  own  statement,  Mr.  Shelton  took  full  "  pas- 
toral charge  of  the  cure  of  Fairfield,  including 
Stratfield  and  Weston,  dividing  his  time  equally 
between  the  three  churches,  with  a  salary  of  one 
hundred  pounds  per  annum  from  the  congregations 
and  the  use  of  what  lands  belonged  to  the  cure." 
It  was  a  small  living  for  a  clergyman  who  already 
had  a  wife  and  two  children,  but  the  Revolutionary 
War  had  so  reduced  the  people  and  their  resources, 
that  it  could  not  well  be  made  larger.  Five  years 
passed  away  before  the  enterprise  of  building  a 
new  church  in  Fairfield  was  really  begun,  and  then 
it  was  erected  about  a  mile  west  of  the  site  where 
the  old  one  stood,  and  was  only  inclosed  and  made 
fit  for  occupancy  at  the  time,  and  not  finished  and 
consecrated  till  1798. 

The  population  was  drifting  from  Stratfield 
toward  the  borough  of  Bridgeport,  and  in  1801  it 
was  deemed  advisable  to  demolish  the  old  church 
and  build  a  new  one  in  a  more  central  situation. 
Mr.  Shelton  saw  the  wisdom  of  this  movement  and 
encouraged  it,  though  it  was  attended  very  natur- 
ally with  some  painful  considerations,  and  took 
away  a  pleasing  picture  from  the  landscape  vv'hich 


138  Seabiiry  Cente7iary — Conneciictit. 

filled  the  vision  of  Dr.  D wight  when  he  wrote  his 
poem  entitled  "  Greenfield  Hill "  : 

*'  Here,  sky-encircled,  Stratford's  churches  beam, 
And  Stratfield's  turrets  greet  the  roving  eye." 

The  new  church  in  the  borough  was  so  far  com- 
pleted as  to  be  used  for  public  worship  in  the 
beginning  of  Advent,  1801,  and  two  years  later  "  the 
ground  floor  was  sold  at  public  vendue  for  the 
purpose  of  building  the  pews  and  seats  thereon, 
and  finishing  the  church ;  and  the  money  raised 
in  the  sale  amounted  to  betw^een  six  and  seven  hun- 
dred dollars."  The  cost  of  the  building  —  about 
thirty-five  hundred  dollars  —  was  over  and  above 
this,  and  was  met  by  the  voluntary  contributions 
of  the  people.  Mr.  Shelton,  in  speaking  of  the 
completion  of  the  whole  work,  said :  "It  has  been 
conducted  in  harmony,  with  good  prudence,  strict 
economy,  and  a  degree  of  elegance  and  taste  which 
does  honor  to  the  committee,  and  adds  respecta- 
bility to  the  place." 

For  nearly  forty  years  the  scene  of  his  minis- 
terial labors  w^as  undisturbed,  and  he  dwelt  among 
his  people  in  quietness  and  confidence,  and  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  them  attain  to  a  high 
degree  of  worldly  prosperity,  and  St.  John's  Church 
in  Bridgeport,  especially,  to  be  one  of  the  strongest 
and  most  flourishing  in  the  diocese.  The  silent 
influence  of  a  good  life  carried  him  along  smoothly, 
and  left  its  gentle  impress  wdierever  he  was  known. 
"  A  faithful  pastor,  a  guileless  and  godly  man,"  is  a 
part  of  the  inscription  upon  the  marble  monument 
erected  over  his  ashes  in  the  Mountain  Grove 
Cemetery  at  Bridgeport,  a  few^  years  since,  by  his 
son  William,  and  these  words  sum  up  very  appro- 
priately his    ministerial    and    Christian    character. 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  139 

While  he  confined  himself  closely  to  the  duties,  of 
his  cure,  he  shrank  not  from  work  put  upon  him 
by  the  diocese,  and  was  for  twenty-four  years  a 
member  of  the  standing  committee,  and  a  firm 
supporter  of  ecclesiastical  authority  in  seasons  of 
trial  and  trouble.  He  was  also  several  times 
chosen  a  deputy  to  the  General  Convention,  and 
never  failed  to  attend  its  sessions. 

There  were  things  that  gave  him  great  pain 
towards  the  end  of  his  days,  and  "  put  his  confi- 
dence in  the  providence  of  God  to  a  severe  test." 
He  and  Mr.  Baldwin,  so  long  earnest  and  friendly 
workers  in  adjoining  fields  of  labor,  appear  to  have 
reached  the  same  determination  at  the  same  time, 
and  probably  they  conferred  together  before  resign- 
ing their  respective  rectorships,  which  they  both 
did  in  1824.  Bishop  Brownell,  referring  to  this 
action  in  his  address  to  the  annual  convention  of 
that  year  said :  "  These  clergymen  were  admitted 
to  their  ministry  at  the  first  Episcopal  ordination 
ever  held  in  America,  and  have  served  their  respec- 
tive parishes  for  more  than  thirty  years.  They 
have  labored  faithfully  in  the  Church  in  this 
diocese  during  its  darkest  periods  of  depression, 
and  through  the  progressive  stages  of  its  advance- 
ment they  have  taken  an  important  part  in  its 
councils.  They  have  '  borne  the  burden  and  heat 
of  the  day,'  and  are  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  all 
those  who  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  counsels  and 
labors." 

Mr.  Shelton  confined  his  services  after  this 
wholly  to  the  Church  in  Fairfield,  but  he  did  not 
long  survive  the  change.  He  died  on  the  27th  of 
February,  1825,  and  was  buried  under  the  chancel 
of  the  old  church  in  Mill  Plain,  Fairfield,  where  he 


140  Seabury  Centenary — Co7inecticiit. 

had  ministered  so  many  years,  including  his  time  as 
lay-reader,  and  a  marble  tablet  was  provided  by 
the  congregation  to  mark  his  resting-place,  on 
which  among  other  things  were  inscribed  the  date 
of  his  birth,  graduation,  admission  to  Holy  Orders, 
and  the  words  :  "  being  the  first  clergyman  episco- 
pally  ordained  in  the  United  States." 

In  1842  the  parishioners  of  Trinity  Church, 
Fairfield,  voted  to  remove  all  the  public  services  to 
the  chapel,  which  had  been  built  seven  years  before 
in  the  borough  of  Southport,  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  distant  from  Mill  Plain,  and  to  transfer  the 
site,  title,  and  rights  of  the  parish  to  that  edifice. 
The  old  church  was  afterwards  taken  down  and 
parts  of  it  used  to  build  the  rectory  in  Southport. 
The  memorial  tablet  was  also  transferred,  but  on  the 
afternoon  of  March  11,  1854,  the  Southport  Church 
was  accidentally  burnt,  and  the  tablet  destroyed. 
The  remains  of  Mr.  Shelton  now  have  a  final 
resting-place  with  his  sainted  wife  and  tw^o  of  his 
daughters  in  the  cemetery  before  mentioned.  A 
monumental  tablet  in  the  w^all  of  St.  John's  Church, 
Bridgeport,  "bears  an  affectionate  testimony  to  his 
Christian  worth  and  ministerial  fidelity."  Bishop 
Browaiell,  in  his  address  to  the  Annual  Convention 
of  the  Diocese,  said  of  him  very  truly :  "  He  has 
faithfully  and  successfully  labored  for  almost  forty 
years  in  the  parish  from  which  his  Divine  Master 
has  now  called  him  to  his  rest.  He  has  taken  an 
important  part  in  the  ecclesiastical  concerns  of  the 
diocese,  from  the  period  of  its  first  organization, 
and  the  moderation  and  prudence  of  his  counsels 
have  contributed,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Church.  For  simplicity  of  character, 
amiable  m.anners,  unaffected  piety,  and  a  faithful 


Service  at  Middletown,  August  3,  1885.  141 

devotion  to  the  duties  of  the  ministerial  office,  he 
has  left  an  example  by  which  all  his  surviving 
brethren  may  profit,  and  which  few  of  them  can 
hope  to  surpass." 

His  widow  survived  him  thirteen  years  —  an 
intelligent  and  devout  churchwoman  who,  as  it 
has  been  said,  "  left  a  name  only  to  be  loved  and 
honored  by  her  friends."  Two  of  his  sons  entered 
the  ministry.  The  younger  of  them,  George 
Augustus  Shelton,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
died  in  1863,  Rector  of  St.  James's  Church,  New- 
town, L.  I.  The  other,  the  late  William  Shelton, 
D.  D.,  succeeded  his  father  for  a  time  in  Fairfield, 
and  then  went  to  Buffalo,  where  for  more  than  half 
a  century  he  was  the  distinguished  Rector  of  St. 
Paul's  Church,  the  oldest  parish  in  that  city. 
Both  died  childless,  and  the  name  of  Shelton  has 
disappeared  from  the  list  of  our  clergy. 

The  Bishop  then  proceeded  with  the  service,  being 
assisted  in  the  administration  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley 
and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Francis  Goodwin  and  S.  O.  Seymour 
of  Hartford.  After  the  service,  the  churchwomen  of 
Middletown  entertained  the  clergy  and  visitors  at  the 
Berkeley  Divinity  School. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  clergymen  who  were 
present : 

The  Right  Rev.  the  Bishop ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley 
of  New  Haven  ;  the  Rev.  Messrs.  E.  W.  Babcock,  New 
Haven ;  Prof.  John  Binney,  Middletown  ;  J.  W.  Bradin, 
Hartford ;  Sylvester  Clarke,  Bridgeport ;  Francis  Good- 
win, Hartford ;  F.  D.  Harriman,  Middle  Haddam ;  Prof. 
Samuel  Hart,  Hartford;  J.  W.  Hyde,  West  Hartford; 
Prof.    W.    A.    Johnson,    Middletown;    W.     F.     Nichols, 


142  Seabiiry  Centenary — Connecticut. 

Hartford ;  J.  L.  Parks,  Middletown  ;  Prof.  F.  T.  Russell, 
Waterbury  ;  B.  S.  Sanderson,  Wethersfield ;  S.  O.  Sey- 
mour, Hartford ;  John  Townsend,  Middletown ;  S.  H. 
Watkins,  Bristol;  W.  W.  Webb,  Middletown;  Charles 
Westermann,  Middle  Haddam  ;  Henry  Edwards,  Hagers- 
town,  Md. ;  W.  B.  Walker,  Augusta,  Ga. 


APPENDIX 


Commemoration   at   Aberdeen 


OCTOBER    7-8,    1884. 


his   address   to   the  Diocesan   Convention  of 
1884,  Bishop  WiUiams  said  : 

"  I  have  received  an  invitation  to  be  present 
at  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  during  the  first  week  in 
October  next,  and  to  take  part  in  the  celebration  of  the 
centenary  of  the  consecration  of  our  first  Bishop.  This 
invitation  I  have,  after  much  hesitation,  decided,  with 
your  consent,  my  brethren,  to  accept.  And  inasmuch  as 
the  month  of  August  and  early  September  are  not  very 
available  for  visitations  of  the  parishes,  as  it  is  more  than 
forty  years  since  I  was  in  Great  Britain,  and  as  it  is  very 
unlikely  that  I  shall  ever  visit  it  again,  I  have  also  deter- 
mined, again  with  your  consent,  to  sail  for  England,  if  so 
God  wills,  on  the  nineteenth  of  July,  hoping  to  be  per- 
mitted to  return  hither  as  soon  as  the  services  of  the 
Commemoration  are  ended. 

'*  I  am  to  be  the  bearer  of  an  address  to  the  Episcopate 
of  Scotland  from  the  House  of  Bishops  in  this  country ; 
and  it  would  be  peculiarly  gratifying  to  my  feelings,  as 
well  as  most  seemly  in  itself  considered,  could  I  also 
carry  out  an  Address  from  our  own  Convention.  If  our 
whole  Church  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  venerable 
prelates  who  laid  hands  on  Seabury,  surely  this  Diocese 
has  especial  cause  to  acknowledge  to  their  successors 
the  obligations  under  which  the  loving  kindness  of  those 
prelates  has  placed  those  who  have  gone  before  us,  our- 
selves, ajrd  those  who  shall  come  after  us  to  the  latest 
generations." 
13 


146  Covimemoratioii  at  Aberdeen. 

This  part  of  the  Bishop's  address  was  referred  to  a 
special  committee,  on  whose  recommendation  —  their  re- 
port being  presented  by  their  chairman,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Harwood  —  the  following  resolutions  were  unanimously 
adopted : 

Resolved^  That  this  Convention  has  heard  with  great  satisfac- 
tion that  the  Bishop  has  received  and  accepted  an  invitation  to 
be  present  at  Aberdeen  in  October  next,  to  take  part  in  the 
centenary  commemoration  of  the  Consecration  of  Bishop  Sea- 
bury  ;  and  that,  in  giving  its  assent  to  the  Bishop's  request  for 
leave  of  absence,  the  Convention  assures  him  that  the  best 
wishes  and  prayers  of  the  Diocese  will  go  with  him. 

Resolved^  That  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  E.  Beardsley,  the  Rev.  Samuel 
F.  Jarvis,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hart,  and  the  Rev.  William  F. 
Nichols,  be  and  they  are  hereby  commissioned  to  present  to 
the  Scottish  Bishops  an  Address  in  the  name  of  this  Conven- 
tion ;  and  that  the  Secretary  be  instructed  to  furnish  them  with 
a  certificate  of  their  appointment. 

Resolved,  That  this  Committee  have  permission  to  sit  after 
the  adjournment  of  this  Convention,  to  prepare  the  Address. 

At  a  meeting  held  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Con- 
vention, the  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley  being  called  to  the  chair, 
it  was  resolved,  on  motion  of  the  Rev.  J.  J.  McCook,  to 
take  measures  for  procuring  a  suitable  memorial  of  the 
gratitude  of  the  Diocese  of  Connecticut  to  be  presented 
to  the  Church  in  Scotland  at  the  approaching  centenary 
commemoration  ;  and  to  that  end  the  chairman  appointed 
as  a  Committee,  with  power,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  John 
Townsend,  John  J.  McCook,  and  William  F.  Nichols. 
The  Committee  determined  that  the  memorial  should 
take  the  form  of  a  Paten  and  ChaUce,  and  subscriptions 
for  the  same  in  small  amounts  were  solicited  and  received 
from  clergymen  and  lay  persons  throughout  the  Diocese. 


Bishop    Williams  s  Sermon.  147 


''PHE  Bishop  of  Connecticut  and  the  four  Presbyters 
1  appointed  by  the  Convention  attended  the  commemo- 
rative service  at  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Aberdeen,  on  the 
seventh  day  of  October.'  The  Holy  Communion  was 
celebrated  according  to  the  Scottish  rite ;  and,  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  congregation,  including  Bishops  of  the 
Scottish,  English,  Irish,  American,  and  Colonial  Churches, 
about  two  hundred  clergymen,  and  a  large  body  of  the 
faithful  laity,  Bishop  Williams  preached  the  following 
sermon  : 

Isaiah  Ix.  5. —  "Then  thou  shalt  see,  and  flow  together,  and  thine  heart 
shall  fear,  and  be  enlarged;  because  the  abundance  of  the  sea  shall  be  con- 
verted unto  thee,  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles  shall  come  unto  thee." 

The  Stirring  prophecy  which  contains  these  words  pre- 
sents to  us,  as  does  many  another  prophecy,  the  Divine 
ideal  of  the  Church  of  God.  It  shows  us  what  that  Church 
would  be,  even  here  in  ''the  progress  of  time,  while,  living 
by  faith,  she  sojourns  "  in  a  world  lying  in  wickedness, 
had  not  man's  folly  and  sin  marred  that  Divine  ideal.  It 
points  us  forward  to  the  day  when  "in  the  stability  of 
that  eternal  seat  which  now  she  patiently  awaits,  she  shall 
attain  the  final  victory  and  the  perfect  peace."  ^ 

The  entire  prophecy,  as  it  runs  through  the  several 
chapters  from  the  first  of  which  the  text  is  taken,  finds 
its  two  horizons,  so  to  speak,  in  the  First  and  Second 
Advents  of  our  Lord.  Its  theme  is  the  period  that  lies 
between  them.     That  period  it  describes  as  one  long  year 

'  The  Rev.  Howard  S.  Clapp  and  the  Rev.  Gouverneur  M.  Wilkins  were 
also  present  from  Connecticut. 

Duplicate  copies  of  the  special  minutes  of  the  Episcopal  Synod  record- 
ing the  proceedings  at  the  Centenary  in  Aberdeen  and  of  the  official  record 
of  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  on  the  eighth  of  October,  have  been  forwarded 
to  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut  for  preservation  in  the  Archives  of  the  Dio- 
cese. They  are  authenticated  by  the  signatures  of  five  of  the  Scottish 
Bishops  and  attested  by  Hugh  James  RoHo,  Esq.,  W.  S.,  Registrar  to  the 
Primus  and  Assistant  Lay-Clerk  to  the  College  of  Bishops. 

-  St.  Augustine,  De  Civitate  Dei.,  Lib.  i.,  Preface. 


148  Coimneinoratio7i  at  Aberdeen. 

of  Jubilee,  the  period  of  the  new  creation  redressing  the 
confusions  and  desolations  of  the  older  one,  in  the  power 
and  abiding  presence  of  the  same  Holy  Spirit  That  once 
moved  "  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,"  and  is  now,  "  by  the 
washing  of  regeneration  "  and  in  His  own  renewing  life^ 
**  shed  on  us  abundantly  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour.'^ 
As  the  story  of  that  older  creation  began  with  the  fiat 
"  Let  there  be  light,"  so  the  prophecy  of  this  new  one 
begins  with  the  words,  ''Arise,  shine,  for  thy  light  is  come." 
As  that  creation  found  its  consummation  in  the  Paradise 
wherein  grew  ''  every  tree  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good 
for  food,"  and  in  which  unfallen  man  was  placed,  so  this 
finds  its  consummation  in  the  new  Paradise  ''in  the  midst " 
of  which  stands  the  tree  of  life  whose  "  leaves  are  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations"  ;  the  dwellers  in  which  are  "trees 
of  righteousness,  the  planting  of  the  Lord";  while  itself 
is  called  "sought  out,  a  city  not  forsaken." 

So  much  for  the  whole  prophecy;  and  time  forbids  me 
to  say  more,  if  indeed  more  were  needed.  Let  us  turn  to 
that  integral  portion  which  the  text  contains;  and  I  ven- 
ture, for  the  moment,  to  reverse  the  order  of  its  wording 
and  to  speak  of  its  last  clause  first. 

"The  abundance  of  the  sea  shall  be  converted  unto 
thee,  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles  shall  come  unto  thee." 
Growth  is  the  normal  law  of  the  Church's  life.  It  may 
not  always  and  at  any  given  time  be  growth  in  numbers, 
though,  if  other  growth  be  not  lacking,  that  is  sure  to 
come.  But  growth  there  must  be ;  growth  "  in  grace  and 
in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ"; 
growth  "into  Him  in  all  things  Which  is  the  Head,  even 
Christ";  growth  upon  and  in  "the  chief  Corner-stone,  in 
Whom  all  the  building  fitly  framed  together  groweth  unto 
an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord."  And  such  growth  does  — 
it  must  —  lead  on  directly  to  the  gathering  in  of  souls  into 


Bishop    Willimns  s  Sermon.  149 

the  Lord's  kingdom;  it  must  arouse  that  which  we  call 
the  missionary  spirit  in  the  Church,  which  was  illustrated, 
as  never  before  nor  since,  in  the  life  and  example  of  Him 
Who  came  "  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost "  ; 
which  was  inculcated  by  Him  when  He  bade  the  Twelve 
to  "disciple  all  nations";  which  was  the  burden  of  the 
last  words,  "unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth,"  that 
fell  on  the  ears  of  the  adoring  Apostles  as  He  entered 
into  the  bright  cloud  of  the  Ascension ;  and  to  which  the 
miracle  of  Pentecost  had  such  direct  and  solemn  reference.' 

When  this  normal  law  becomes  a  living  conviction  in 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  Church's  members,  and,  there- 
fore, in  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  Church  herself,  then 
those  two  things  follow  which  the  first  part  of  my  text 
(though,  indeed,  it  is  the  illation  from  the  latter  portion) 
brings  before  us,  when  it  says  that  because  of  the  conver- 
sion of  "the  abundance  of  the  sea,"  and  because  of  the 
incoming  of  "  the  Gentiles,"  "  thou  shalt  see,  and  flow 
together,  and  thine  heart  shall  fear  and  be  enlarged." 

First,  "thou  shalt  see,  and  flow  together";  or,  as  it 
might  better  read,  "thou  shalt  see  and  be  enlightened." 
As  the  mind  takes  in  those  latest  words  of  the  Lord, 
"  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth,"  as  the  eye  beholds 
the  Church  spreading  outward  from  its  one  centre  in 
Jerusalem,  "the  vision  and  the  faculty  divine,"  if  not 
created,  are  at  least  sharpened  and  strengthened.  We 
learn  how  God  "  hath  raised  us  up  together,  and  made  us 
sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus ;  that  in 
the  ages  to  come  He  might  show  the  exceeding  riches  of 
His  grace  in  His  kindness  toward  us  through  Christ 
Jesus."  We  understand,  as  never  before,  "what  is  the 
fellowship  of   the  mystery  which  from  the  beginning  of 

'  Eaton's  Bampton  Lectures,  ^^72,  p.  363. 

13* 


150  Commemoration  at  Aberdeeii. 

the  world  hath  been  hid  in  God,  Who  created  all  things 
by  Jesus  Christ." 

So  it  fared  with  St.  Peter,  after  that  vision  of  the  great 
sheet  coming  down  from  heaven  had  fully  opened  to  him 
the  universality  of  the  Church  of  God.  Then  his  "delu- 
sive dream  of  temporal  deliverance  became  a  real  assur- 
ance of  eternal  redemption."  Then  his  ''  narrow  estimate 
of  the  Divine  Covenant  with  his  own  nation  expanded^ 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  into  the  sublime 
conception  of  the  '  Israel  of  God.' "  ' 

"Thine  heart  shall  fear  and  be  enlarged."  The  fear 
surely  is  not  that  of  shivering  dread  or  slavish  terror. 
But  it  is  that  subduing  awe  which  always  accompanies 
great  joyfulness,  and  enters  into  it  in  such  a  mysterious 
and  perplexing  way;  even  as  God  says,  by  Jeremiah,  that 
when  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  hear  of  the  good 
which  He  will  do  unto  Israel,  "  they  shall  fear  and  tremble 
for  all  the  goodness  and  all  the  prosperity  that  I  procure 
unto  it."  So  when  Jacob,  awaking  from  the  sleep  in  which 
he  learned  of  the  new  Covenant  with  God  through  the 
Incarnation  of  Christ,  exclaimed :  "  How  dreadful  is  this 
place!  this  is  none  other  but  the  House  of  God,  and  this 
is  the  gate  of  Heaven!"  And  then,  as  the  unbounded 
love  and  mercy  of  the  Father  of  all  spirits  comes  to  be 
understood,  the  heart  is  in  very  deed  "enlarged,"  as  St. 
Paul's  heart  was  toward  his  Corinthian  children ;  and  it 
goes  along,  in  loving,  active  sympathy  with  the  great  pur- 
pose of  God,  "that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of 
times,  He  might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in 
Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on  earth, 
even  in  Him." 

Thus  as  the  "Vision  of  peace,  the  blessed  city  Jeru- 

^  Lee  On  Inspiration^  p.  249  (American  edition). 


Bishop    Williams's  Sermon.  151 

salem  "  has  dawned  upon  our  sight;  as  we  have  watched 
its  ever-spreading  walls  and  rising  towers ;  as  we  have 
seen  it  builded  up  with  living  stones,  which  are  human 
souls  redeemed  and  sanctified ;  we  have  entered  with  a 
keener  insight  into,  we  have  come  to  comprehend  more 
truly  and  more  fully,  "  the  length  and  breadth  and  depth 
and  height"  of  that  ''manifold  wisdom  of  God"  which  is 
made  "known  by  the  Church"  even  to  "the  principalities 
and  powers  in  heavenly  places";  and  our  hearts  have 
kindled  into  that  constraining  love  of  Christ,  in  which  we 
rejoice,  with  joy  unspeakable,  to  work  together  with  Him 
in  bringing  men  to  the  knowledge  of  the  one  way  of 
salvation,  while,  in  the  same  deep  love,  we  also  endeavor 
to  "keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 

Fathers  and  brethren,  honored  and  beloved  in  the  Lord ! 
as  I  stand  here,  this  day,  with  a  full  heart  but  with 
trembling  lips,  the  unworthy  successor  of  him  who,  in 
this  city  of  old  renown,  received  a  century  ago  the  sacred 
deposit  which  he  bore  to  the  Western  world ;  as  I  look  on 
this  truly  august  gathering  which  tells,  as  no  words  can 
tell,  how  God  has  blessed  the  vine  planted  in  early,  possi- 
bly in  Apostolic,  days  in  "  Britain  divided  from  the  world," 
enabling  her  "  to  stretch  out  her  branches  unto  the  sea, 
and  her  boughs  unto  the  river"  ;  as  I  think  of  all  that  has 
come  and  gone  in  those  hundred  years  in  the  marvellous 
growth  and  the  awakened  inner  life,  acting  and  reacting 
on  each  other,  of  the  mother  and  the  daughter  Churches 
— for  we  all  spring  from  one  and  the  same  noble  stock  — 
I  can  find  no  better  words  in  which  to  sum  up  memories, 
thoughts,  forecastings,  than  those  which  I  have  endeavored 
somewhat  to  unfold :  "  Then  thou  shalt  see,  and  be  en- 
lightened, and  thine  heart  shall  fear,  and  be  enlarged; 
because  the  abundance  of  the  sea  shall  be  converted  unto 
thee,  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles  shall  come  unto  thee." 


152  Commemoratio7t  at  Aberdeeii. 

And  yet,  one»cannot  but  remember  how  far  beyond  all 
possible  anticipations  of  those  brave  hearts  that  once 
made  such  a  venture  for  Christ  and  His  Church,  are  the 
things  which  our  eyes  look  upon,  and  which  are  a  part  of 
our  everyday  life  and  experience. 

When  those  ten  presbyters,  whose  priesthood  had  not 
been  gained  without  trials  and  perils  which  only  the 
deepest  convictions  could  have  nerved  them  to  bear,  met 
in  that  secluded  unknown  New  England  town,  on  the 
Festival  of  the  Annunciation,  in  1783,  and  laid  the  burden 
of  seeking  for  the  Episcopate  on  Seabury,  what  could  they 
have  seen  about  them  but  the  disorganized  elements  of  an 
apparently  decaying  life?  When,  on  the  14th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1784,  in  that  upper  room  in  this  good  city,  those 
venerable  prelates  (whose  names  are  to-day  household 
words  through  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  what  has 
been  called  '*  The  Greater  Britain  of  the  Western  World  ") 
handed  on  the  high  commission  they  had  received  in  trust, 
what  could  their  eyes  have  looked  upon  but  scattered 
flocks  under  their  few  shepherds,  which  must  meet,  if 
they  met  at  all,  in  uncertainty  and  peril,  to  worship  God 
as  their  fathers  had  worshipped  before  them  ? 

Still,  if  they  saw  little  around  them  to  encourage  and 
support,  theirs  (we  may  well  believe)  was  the  eye  of  faith 
that  is  strengthened  to  pierce  the  future.  If  they  heard 
few  words  of  cheer  from  men,  there  came  upon  their  ears, 
from  a  Greater  than  man,  words  of  strong  hope  and  glori- 
ous promise.  In  that  Transatlantic  gathering,  small  and 
unnoticed  as  it  was,  the  ten  who  came  together  heard,  in 
the  Gospel  of  the  Annunciation,  that  ''  with  God  nothing 
is  impossible,"  and  in  the  song  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  they 
were  bidden  to  bethink  themselves  how  "  God  remembered 
His  mercy  and  truth  toward  the  House  of  Israel,"  exalting 
"the  humble  and  meek,"  filling  "the  hungry  with  good 


Bishop    Williams  s  Sermon.  153 

things,"  and  helping  "  His  servant  Israel."  Here  in  Aber- 
deen, on  that  memorable  day  of  November,  they  said  in 
the  morning  Psalter:  "O  what  great  troubles  and  adver- 
sities hast  Thou  showed  me !  and  yet  didst  Thou  turn  and 
refresh  me;  yea,  and  broughtest  me  from  the  deep  of  the 
earth  again";  and  then,  as  the  strain  of  praise  swelled 
higher,  higher  still,  while  the  vision  of  the  City  of  God  in 
all  its  grandeur  broke  on  the  eye  of  faith,  there  came  the 
inspiring  words  —  how  their  hearts  must  have  thrilled  as 
they  uttered  them  !  — ''  He  shall  deliver  the  poor  when  he 
crieth,  the  needy  also,  and  him  that  hath  no  helper.  .  .  . 
He  shall  be  favourable  to  the  simple  and  needy,  and  shall 
preserve  the  souls  of  the  poor.  .  .  .  There  shall  be 
an  heap  of  corn  in  the  earth,  high  upon  the  hills ;  his  fruit 
shall  shake  like  Libanus,  and  shall  be  green  in  the  city 
like  grass  upon  the  earth." 

Words  like  these  carry  with  them  unwonted  power  on 
occasions  like  those  of  which  I  have  been  speaking.  To 
us  they  come  like  special  prophecies  of  what  we  look  on 
as  a  century  now  closing.  To  those  others  they  came 
freighted  with  hope  for  an  indefinite  and  unknown  future. 
And  what  an  inspiration  they  must  have  given  to  the 
venture  they  were  making;  a  venture  so  entirely  one  of 
faith,  that  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  of  those  who  made  it 
that  they  take  their  places  in  that  long  line  of  faithful 
ones,  mentioned  with  such  distinguished  honor  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  who,  though  they  only  saw  ''the 
promises  afar  off,"  still  "were  persuaded  of  them  and 
embraced  them,"  and  therefore  ''obtained  a  good  report." 
Can  we  imagine,  dear  brethren,  a  more  striking  illustration 
of  the  different  aspect  which  things  wear  to  the  eye  of 
sense  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  eye  of  faith  on  the  other, 
than  that  which  the  election  and  consecration  of  the  first 
bishop  for  America  present  to  us.^*     All  honor,  then,  to 


154  Commeinoi'atioii  at  Aberdeeii. 

those  brave  hearts  that  accomplished  them !  Men  may- 
have  counted  "their  lives  madness  and  their  end  to  be 
without  honor."  We  know,  blessed  be  the  God  of  all 
grace  and  power!  that  they  are  ''numbered  among  the 
children  of  God,  and  their  lot  is  among  the  saints." 

The  temptation  is  strong  to  linger  on  the  simple  but 
impressive  scene  of  the  consecration :  to  try  to  picture 
that  secluded  oratory  in  the  house  of  the  Coadjutor-Bishop 
of  this  faithful  diocese;  to  endeavor  to  bring  back  the 
congregation  gathered  in  it,  and  the  ministering  prelates ; 
to  recall  the  form  of  the  youthful  priest  who  held  the  book 
from  which  the  awful  words  of  ordination  were  recited, 
Alexander  Jolly,  afterwards  the  sainted  Bishop  of  Moray; 
to  speak  of  this  ancient  city  of  Aberdeen,  associated  for 
all  time  in  the  memories  of  Churchmen  with  the  names 
of  John  Forbes  of  Corse  and  Henry  Scougal  and  the  re- 
membrance of  its  orthodox  and  learned  doctors ;  but  time 
forbids  more  than  this  briefest  mention. 

We  behold  —  and  it  is  a  sight  to  stir  the  heart  with 
"thoughts  too  deep  for  words" — we  behold  a  suffering 
and  a  witnessing  Church,  in  the  depth  of  a  long  and  wast- 
ing depression,  reaching  out  the  hand  of  love  to  a  Church 
suffering  and  witnessing  also,  and  trembling,  to  human 
seeming,  on  the  verge  of  utter  extinction.  Perhaps  —  is 
it  too  much  to  say  it.?  —  it  was  because  of  this  patient 
suffering  anc^  faithful  witness  that  God  gave  to  this  Church 
the  distinguished  privilege  of  sending  its  first  Apostle  to 
the  new  world  beyond  the  ocean,  I  cannot  refrain  from 
quoting  here  the  admirable  words  of  one  of  your  own  Scot- 
tish bishops.  Speaking  of  the  act  which  we  commemorate, 
he  says :  "  Mark,  my  brethren,  how  for  the  accomplishment 
of  this  work  —  according  to  the  full  measure  of  the  gifts 
of  the  Spirit  and  of  Apostolic  order  —  it  pleased  God,  as 
at  the  first,  to  choose  the  weak  things  of  the  world,  and 


Bishop    Williams s  Seimon.  155 

things  that  were  despised,  yea,  and  things  which  in  the 
eye  of  man  had  ceased  to  be.  To  our  Scottish  Church 
with  its  hierarchy,  which  had  formerly  consisted  of  two 
Archbishops  and  twelve  Bishops,  then  reduced  to  four; 
with  its  pastoral  charge,  which  had  once  comprehended 
the  care  of  every  parish  in  the  land,  then  shrunk  to  little 
more  than  a  score  or  two  of  scattered  congregations  — 
yea,  and  at  the  very  time  when  an  act  of  the  civil  legis- 
lature had  declared  all  ecclesiastical  orders  conferred  by 
her  to  be  null  and  void ;  at  such  a  time,  to  the  poor  perse- 
cuted remnant  of  the  Church  in  Scotland  was  this  grace 
given,  that  she  should  impart  to  the  United  States,  now 
no  longer  dependent  upon  England,  the  first  seed  of  the 
Episcopate  which  England  had  withheld.  Yes,  the  first 
bishop  who  set  foot  on  the  continent  of  North  America, 
the  first  bishop  who  went  forth  to  a  foreign  land  bearing 
the  full  blessings  of  our  reformed  Church,  was  conse- 
crated to  his  Apostolic  office,  not  amid  the  solemn  pomp 
and  august  ceremonial  of  an  English  minster,  no,  nor  in 
the  privacy  of  an  episcopal  palace,  but  in  the  obscurity  of 
an  upper  chamber  in  a  common  dwelling-house  in  Aber- 
deen." '  If,  as  has  sometimes  been  generously  said,  this 
noble  act  of  faith  and  charity  has  afforded  a  new  and  signal 
illustration  of  our  Lord's  own  words,  "  It  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive,"  that  does  not  make  the  act  a  whit 
less  noble,  nor  diminish  by  one  jot  the  obligation  of  un- 
dying gratitude  on  the  part  of  those  who  received  the 
gift  it  gave. 

If  we  look  at  its  immediate  results,  besides  what  has 
just  been  named,  it  assuredly  gave  an  impulse  to  that 
action  of  the  State  in  England,  in  consequence  of  which, 
within  five  years,  three  bishops  of  the  English  line  were 

^  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews;  Mending  of  the  Nets,  p.  17  (ed.  1884). 


156  Comineinoration  at  Aberdeen. 

given  to  as  many  dioceses  in  the  United  States.  It  was 
the  means,  also,  of  joining  in  the  American  Episcopate  . 
the  Scottish  and  the  English  lines  of  succession  in  a  union 
that  will  endure  while  the  world  shall  last.  For  though 
the  prelate  consecrated  here  ministered  in  only  one  con- 
secration of  a  bishop  after  his  return  —  that  of  the  first 
Bishop  of  Maryland — yet,  since  that  day,  there  has  not 
been  (and  there  can  never  be  in  time  to  come)  a  bishop 
in  our  American  Episcopate,  who,  as  he  traces  back  his 
lineage  through  the  network  —  for  I  surely  need  not  say, 
here  and  now,  that  the  succession  is  a  network  and  not  a 
chain  of  single  links  —  will  not  find  in  it  the  name  of  that 
Bishop  of  Maryland,  by  whom  he  is  connected  with  Sea- 
bury,  and  then,  by  him,  with  "  the  Catholic  remainder  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland."  Nor  need  one  ask,  nor  could 
lie  have,  if  he  did  ask  it,  a  nobler  spiritual  lineage  than  he 
has  received  in  that  double  succession,  which  indeed  be- 
comes single  again  if  we  go  back  for  a  little  more  than 
another  century. 

Then,  again,  this  deed  of  Christian  charity  did,  no  doubt, 
bring  out  from  its  obscurity  into  the  light  of  day,  the  wit- 
nessing remnant  of  the  ancient  Church  of  Scotland,  and 
was,  perhaps,  the  first  step  towards  the  removal  of  those 
civil  disabilities  which  had  pressed  her  into  the  dust. 
How  must  the  iron  of  suffering  have  entered  into  the  soul 
of  many  a  faithful  priest  in  those  dark  days  of  trial,  when, 
we  are  told,  the  clergy  had  given  up  the  hope  that  any 
successors  would  come  after  them,  and  on  the  monument 
of  one  of  them  were  written  the  despairing  words,  '*  Ultime 
Scotorum!"  ^ 

How  strangely  similar  were  the  conditions  of  those  who 
sought  the  Episcopate  and  those  who  courageously  gave 

^  Epitaph  by  the  Rev.  J.  Skinner  on  the  tombstone  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Keith, 
Presbyter  at  Cruden  :  "  Ultime  Scotorum  in  Crudenanis,  Keithe,  Sacerdos." 


Bishop    Williams  s  Sermon.  157 


it  in  those  days  of  doubt  and  darkness !  How  fitting  it 
seems  that,  in  the  ordering  of  God's  providence,  one  suf- 
fering Church,  stripped  of  its  worldly  honors  and  its  earthly 
wealth,  should  give  to  another,  ''  scattered  and  peeled  " 
and  apparently  on  the  verge  of  extinction,  that  deposit 
which  it  had  maintained  in  the  face  of  dangers  that  might 
well  seem  worse  than  death  itself !  They  who  have  lived 
together  under  the  shadows  and  in  the  sharing  of  life's 
tragedies  and  woes,  know  full  well  that  there  is  no  bond 
of  union  half  so  strong  as  the  bond  of  common  suffering ; 
know  full  well  that  they  whose  hearts  have  touched  each 
other  only  in  hours  of  joy  and  gladness,  can  never  be  so 
bound  together  as  those  who  have  wept  beside  beds  of 
death,  or  clasped  each,  other's  hands  over  open  graves. 
Why  should  it  not  so  be  with  bodies  of  men  as  with  indi- 
viduals? Above  all,  why  should  it  not  so  be  with  sister 
Churches,  bound  together  in  the  highest  of  all  bonds? 
Was  it  not  so  here  a  century  ago  ?  When  the  kindly  hand 
was  outstretched  here  to  help,  when  the  loving  word, 
carrying  the  very  life  of  love,  went  across  the  ocean  to 
those  who  were  indeed  ''minished  and  brousfht  low,"  was 
not  the  channel  of  Christian  sympathy  deepened,  was  not 
its  flow  made  fuller  and  more  strong  by  the  conditions  of 
which  I  have  just  spoken?  And  if  it  has  pleased  God,  in 
His  great  mercy,  to  send  brighter  days,  greater  peace, 
better  hopes  to  each  of  us,  shall  not  the  bond,  once  welded 
by  suffering,  still  keep  its  strength  ?  God  grant  it  may ! 
God  grant  that,  till  the  Lord  shall  come  to  give  His  uni- 
versal Church  its  final  triumph,  these  Churches,  so  mar- 
vellously united,  ''  may  stand  fast  in  one  spirit,  with  one 
mind  striving  together  for  the  Faith  of  the  Gospel,  and 
in  nothing  terrified  by  adversaries." 

It  would  be  more  than  ungrateful,  it  would  be  inexcus- 
able, to  omit  here  the  recognition  of  the  agency  by  which, 
14 


158  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

under  God,  it  came  to  pass  that  there  were  in  what  had 
been  the  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  and  were  now  inde- 
pendent States,  those  who  sought  the  Episcopate  as 
essential  to  the  full  organization  of  an  autonomous 
Church.  That  agency  is  found  in  the  Venerable  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  —  a 
society  to  which  American  Churchmen  must  always  look 
with  undying  gratitude,  for  to  its  noble  labors  they 
largely  owe  all  that  they  were  when  Seabury  was  sent 
upon  his  mission  of  faith,  and  much  of  what  they  enjoy 
to-day. 

It  was  no  fault  of  that  Society  that  there  was  not,  in 
America,  an  Episcopate  before  the  war  of  the  Revolution, 
Had  the  godly  counsels  and  the  strong  appeals  of  the 
bishops,  clergy,  and  faithful  laity  who  shared  in  its  plans 
and  operations,  been  listened  to,  American  Churchmen 
would  have  had  no  need  to  seek  the  Apostolic  office  out- 
side the  limits  of  their  own  country.  This  is  not  the  time 
nor  is  this  the  place  to  consider,  in  detail,  the  reasons  — 
if  reasons  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word  there  were  — 
why  the  Episcopate,  so  strongly  desired,^  had  not  been 
given.  But  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  where  the  labors 
of  the  Society  had  been  the  most  abundant  and  its  mis- 
sionaries most  numerous,  there  the  need  of  the  Episcopate 
was  most  deeply  felt  and  the  call  for  it  was  loudest.  In- 
deed, the  only  two  colonies  from  which  any  opposition  to 
sending  bishops  to  America  before  the  Revolution  came, 
were  Maryland  and  Virginia;  and  to  those  colonies,  be- 
cause in  them  the  maintenance  of  the  clergy  was  otherwise 
provided  for,  the  Society  sent  few,  if  any,  missionaries. 

No  part  of  all  the  Western  world  received  more  of  the 
Society's  fostering  aid  than  the  New  England  colonies; 
and  to  none  of  them  was  more  help  extended  than  to  the 
colony  of  Connecticut.     From  the  day  when  the  founda- 


Bishop    Williams  s  Sermon.  159 

tions  of  the  Church  were  laid  in  that  colony  on  to  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  the  benefactions  that  came 
from  England  were  abundant  and  unceasing.  With  pos- 
sibly a  single  exception,  all  the  clergy  in  the  colony  were 
missionaries  of  the  Society.  They  were  also  sons  of  the 
soil,  who,  because  of  convictions  too  strong  to  be  resisted, 
went  back  to  the  Church  from  which  their  fathers  had 
gone  out,  and  in  doing  so  incurred  odium  and  reproach, 
scorn  and  contempt,  the  loss  of  much  that  gives  earthly 
comfort  and  rejoicing,  and  sometimes  the  sundering  of 
ties  that  seemed  to  be  a  part  of  life  itself.  They  were 
taught,  too,  by  the  bitter  experience  of  half  a  century,  the 
difficulties  and  dangers  attendant  on  a  voyage  to  England 
to  obtain  Holy  Orders ;  difficulties  and  dangers  then  so 
great  that  one  in  every  five  of  all  sent  out  for  ordination 
perished  by  sickness  or  by  shipwreck,  and  saw  his  native 
land  no  more.  Theirs  may  be  inglorious  confessorships, 
unknown  to  or  forgotten  by  men,  but  confessorships  they 
are,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  they  find  their  place  in  the 
Book  of  God's  remembrance. 

It  can  cause  no  wonder  that  men  thus  trained  and  tried 
should,  when  the  severance  of  the  mother  country  and 
its  colonies  was  complete,  have  turned  their  first  thoughts 
to  the  means  of  perpetuating  that  stewardship  **of  the 
mysteries  of  God,"  which  they  had  so  hardly  won;  that 
they  should  have  held  that  to  be  the  first  step,  and  refused 
to  take  another  till  they  had  taken  that.  For,  indeed,  if  the 
Church  is  to  be  rightly  perpetuated  under  the  conditions 
of  a  normal  growth,  it  can  only  be  perpetuated  according 
to  the  original  and  organic  law  of  its  existence.  When 
He  to  Whom  in  His  resurrection  ''all  power  was  given 
in  heaven  and  in  earth,"  committed  to  the  Apostolic  Min- 
istry the  tradition  of  the  Apostolic  Doctrine,  in  that  great 
baptismal  formula  which  is  alike  the  source  and  summary 


i6o  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen, 

of  the  Catholic  Faith,  He  joined  two  things  together  that 
man  may  never  put  asunder.  He  may  try  the  separation 
if  he  will  —  he  has  tried  it,  alas !  more  than  once — but  the 
end,  the  inevitable  end,  has  always  been  the  loss  of  the 
Apostolic  Doctrine. 

Then,  on  the  other  hand,  the  gift  of  the  Apostolic 
Ministry  without  the  most  wisely  guarded  guarantees  that 
there  shall  be  a  steadfast  continuance  in  the  "doctrine  of 
the  Apostles,  and  in  the  breaking  of  bread,  and  the 
prayers,"  is  a  gift  of  more  than  doubtful  value.  Men 
seem  to  think  to-day,  that  they  can  leave  out  what  parts 
they  please  from  the  original  and  divine  organism  of  the 
Church,  and  still  work  the  rest  at  will.  The  attempt,  be- 
lieve me,  is  just  as  futile  as  it  would  be  to  undertake  to 
deal  in  like  fashion  with  one  of  those  huge  machines  that 
work,  all  about  us,  with  such  life-like  power,  and  attempt 
to  make  it  do  its  work,  when  some  portion  of  its  complex 
mechanism  had  been  removed.  We  cannot  be  too  thank- 
ful for  the  merciful  guiding  that  kept  our  fathers,  a 
hundred  years  ago,  from  so  fatal  a  mistake  as  that.  For 
here,  as  well  as  in  England,  guarantees  were  demanded 
and  given,  so  far  as  it  was  possible  to  give  them,  before 
the  succession  was  communicated. 

I  turn  to  that  venerable  document  known  to  us  as  the 
Concordate,  one  copy  of  which  is  preserved  in  the  Epis- 
copal archives  here  in  Scotland,  and  its  duplicate  in 
America,  and  I  read  words  which  it  is  well  to  remember 
to-day:  words  which  speak  of  the  due  maintenance  "of 
the  analogy  of  the  common  Faith  once  given  to  the  Saints, 
and  happily  preserved  in  the  Church  of  Christ";  which 
declare,  in  terms  of  unmistakable  clearness,  "that  the 
spiritual  authority  and  jurisdiction"  of  Christ's  ministers 
"cannot  be  affected  by  any  lay  deprivation";  which 
provide,  so  far  as  provision  could  be  made,  for  the  full 


Bishop    Williams's  Sermon.  i6i 

communion  with  the  Church  in  Scotland  of  the  newly 
consecrated  bishop,  his  successors,  and  his  diocese,  a  com- 
munion which,  as  this  day's  service  so  solemnly  attests, 
has  come  to  embrace  not  that  single  diocese  alone,  but 
the  entire  Church  in  the  United  States;  words,  finally, 
which  pledge  the  bishop  then  sent  forth,  to  endeavor,  ''by 
gentle  methods  of  argument  and  persuasion,"  to  bring 
about  a  substantial  agreement  between  the  two  Churches, 
in  "the  Celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  —  the  principal 
bond  of  union  among  Christians,  as  well  as  the  most  solemn 
act  of  worship  in  the  Christian  Church."  How  that 
pledge  was,  under  the  manifest  and  wonderful  leadings  of 
God's  providence,  fulfilled,  not  for  one  diocese,  but  for  a 
national  Church,  our  American  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
declares  and  will  declare  in  all  coming  time. 

I  have  spoken,  fathers  and  brethren,  of  the  past,  for  to 
it  our  thoughts  naturally  and  chiefly  direct  themselves 
to-day.  Its  grand  venture  of  faith,  the  brave  hearts  that 
made  it,  the  generous  givers  of  the  precious  gift,  the  un- 
daunted receiver  of  the  gift  who  bore  it  across  the  ocean 
—  for  all  he  knew,  to  stormier  seas  than  the  Atlantic's 
billows  —  these  fill  up  the  foreground  of  the  picture  on 
which  our  eyes  are  resting.  As  I  turn  from  it,  and  from 
the  figures  of  those  venerable  prelates  who  stand  foremost 
in  it,  I  remember  (and  I  repeat,  speaking  for  generations 
that  have  passed  away  and  for  generations  that  are  to 
come)  the  words  that  were  sent  to  them  from  hearts  that 
burned  with  grateful  love :  "Wherever  the  American  Epis- 
copal Church  shall  be  mentioned  in  the  world,  may  this 
good  deed  which  they  have  done  for  us  be  spoken  of  for 
a  memorial  of  them ! " 

If,  however,  there  is  a  past  for  which  the  deepest  thank- 
fulness is  due,  there  is  also  a  present  which  we  may  not 
forget,  for  in  it  our  thankfulness,  if  it  is  real,  must  culmi- 
14* 


1 62  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

nate.  What  a  change  has  a  century  wrought  for  us! 
How  unlike  is  1884  to  1784!  I  do  not  much  believe,  my 
brethren,  in  numbering  the  people.  I  am  sure  that  any 
boastful  or  vain-glorious  numbering  is  but  an  evil  thing. 
But  surely  when  "a  little  one"  has  ''become  a  thousand, 
and  a  small  one  a  strong  nation,"  we  may  gratefully  recog- 
nize the  merciful  guidance  and  blessing  of  the  Lord,  Who 
has  "hastened  it  in  his  time."  In  1784,  we  see  one 
single  bishop  of  our  communion,  and  one  only,  outside 
the  realm  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland;  and  him  with  an 
unformed  diocese  and  a  future  on  which  rested  more 
clouds  than  sunshine.  In  1884  time  would  fail  him  who 
should  undertake  to  read  the  roll  of  regions  occupied  and 
churches  organized.  An  American  statesman  once  said, 
in  words  that  have  been  often  quoted,  that  England's 
drum-beat  never  ceased  as  it  passed  around  the  world. 
We  can  say  that  our  English  Te  Deum,  with  its  "  Day  by 
day  we  magnify  Thee,"  rolls  round  the  world  as  well,  in 
unceasing  and  ever-increasing  volume. 

Of  the  vast  regions  to  which  that  solitary  bishop  went 
in  1785,  there  is  no  part  or  portion  which  is  not  now  an 
organized  diocese  or  a  missionary  jurisdiction,  and  the 
increase  has  been  thirty,  sixty,  yea,  an  hundred-fold. 
Here  the  things  that  seemed  ready  to  die  have  been  so 
strengthened  by  Him  "without  Whom  nothing  is  strong," 
that  a  bright  and  blessed  present  points  to  an  even 
brighter  and  more  blessed  future ;  while,  if  we  look  to  that 
great  Church  from  which  our  successions  ultimately  come, 
we  find  her  outgoings  and  advances  limited  only  by  the 
limits  of  the  world  itself.  In  the  name  of  her  Lord  and 
King  she  has  indeed  taken  "  the  heathen  for  His  inherit- 
ance, and  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth  for  His  possession." 

Shall  we  dare  from  such  a  past  and  such  a  present  to 
look  forward  through  the  years   of  a  coming  century.? 


Bishop    Williams  s  Sermon.  163 

Those  years  are  in  the  hand  of  God,  and  what  they  may 
bring  to  us  it  is  not  for  us  to  know,  nor  need  we  ask. 
But  we  do  know  this,  and  it  is  enough  for  us  to  know, 
that  if  these  Churches,  holding  fast  "  the  form  of  sound 
words,"  and  "holding  forth  the  word  of  life,"  shall  rise  to 
the  full  measure  of  their  opportunities  and  duty,  in  sole 
reliance  on  the  powder  of  Him  Who  died  and  yet  liveth 
for  evermore ;  in  services  of  holy  worship ;  in  the  procla- 
mation of  the  remission  of  sins  in  Jesus  Christ ;  in  the 
tradition  of  His  holy  sacraments ;  in  faithful,  loving  min- 
istries to  the  bodies  and  the  souls  of  men ;  if  they  shall  so 
strive,  then  they  shall  have  a  work  given  them  to  do  in 
the  latter  days,  before  the  view  of  which  the  heart  dies 
down  in  awe,  and  the  voice  is  hushed  in  unutterable 
thankfulness. 

"  Visions  of  glory,  spare  my  aching  sight ; 
Ye  unborn  ages,  crowd  not  on  my  soul !  " 

One  word  remains  to  be  uttered  here  —  the  word  of 
love  and  gratitude  to  this  venerated  Scottish  Church,  from 
the  far-otf  Western  world : 

'' O  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem;  they  shall  pros- 
per that  love  thee.  Peace  be  within  thy  walls,  and 
plenteousness  within  thy  palaces !  For  my  brethren  and 
companions'  sakes,  I  will  wish  thee  prosperity !  Yea,  be- 
cause of  the  house  of  the  Lord  our  God,  I  will  seek  to  do 
thee  good!" 

A  reception  banquet  was  held  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
same  day,  at  which  Bishop  Williams  replied  to  the  toast 
of  ''The  Church  in  America." 


164  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

On  the  eighth  day  of  October,  a  large  congregation 
being  assembled  in  St.  AndreAv's  Church  for  the  opening 
service  of  the  Synod  of  the  Bishops  of  the  Scottish 
Church,  at  the  close  of  the  processional  hymn,  the  Rev. 
William  F.  Nichols  presented  to  the  Bishop  of  Aberdeen 
the  memorial  Paten  and  Chalice,  the  latter  bearing  this 
inscription  :  ^ 

Nf  CONNECTICUT    TO    SCOTLAND.  ^ 
A.D.  1784  — A.D.  1884. 

4^  A  GRATEFUL  MEMORIAL  BEFORE  GOD  *^ 

OF  THE  EPISCOPATE  ^  AND  TEE  EUCHAEISTIC  OFFICE 

TRANSMITTED  BY  BISHOPS   KILGOUR,  PETRIE,  AND  SKINNER 

TO    SEABURY   AND    THE    CHURCH    IN    AMERICA. 

4^  Think  tLpon  them,  our  God,  for  good, 
according  to  all  that  they  have  dojie  for  this  people.  4* 

^  The  Chalice  stands  eleven  inches  high,  and  is  of  massive  silver.  The 
base  is  broad  and  heavily  moulded.  From  above  the  base  mouldings  spring 
eight  arched  panels.  The  front  one  contains  a  crucifix,  the  cross  and  the 
figure  of  our  Lord  being  in  full  relief.  In  the  panel  to  the  left  are  the  arms 
of  the  See  of  Connecticut,  resting  on  branches  of  oak.  In  the  one  to  the 
right  are  the  arms  of  the  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  encircled  by  branches  of  the 
thistle.  In  the  panel  opposite  that  containing  the  crucifix  are  the  emblems 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  The  remaining  four  panels  are  filled  with  the 
emblems  of  the  four  Evangelists.  From  this  part  of  the  base  rises  a  richly 
moulded  plinth,  supporting  the  lower  shaft,  which  is  worked  in  diaper 
tracery.  The  knop  of  the  shaft  is  encircled  with  eight  elaborately  wrought 
bosses,  ornamented  with  garnets  and  sapphires  in  gold  settings.  Above 
the  knop  the  shaft  has  simpler  treatment,  being  worked  with  quatrefoils  in 
square  panels,  all  in  relief.  From  this  rises  the  bowl  of  the  chalice,  which 
shows  solid  gilt,  enriched  with  an  outer  cup  of  delicately  chased  silver 
work,  divided  into  eight  sections,  to  correspond  with  those  of  the  stem  and 
of  the  foot.  The  section  above  the  crucifix  shows  the  Alpha  and  Omega, 
entwined  by  passion-flowers.  The  next  one  to  the  left  contains  the  I  H  S, 
entwined  with  the  grape-vine.  The  next  one  to  the  right  contains  the  X  P, 
with  sheaves  of  wheat.  Beginning  with  the  panel  next  to  the  right  of  this, 
the  several  ones  are  filled  as  follows : — the  Greek  cross  with  the  thistle ; 
next,  the  pelican  with  the  rose  of  Sharon ;  next,  the  emblem  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  with  tKe  clover-leaf;  next,  the  emblem  of  the  Holy  Ghost  with  olive 
branches ;  next,  the  crown  of  glory  with  palm  branches.  The  Paten  is 
enriched  with  a  golden  medallion  on  the  rim,  in  the  form  of  a  vesica,  which 
shows  the  Agnus  Dei,  executed  in  colored  enamel. 


Presentation  of  Paten  and  Chalice.  165 

In    making   the   presentation,    Mr.    Nichols    spoke   as 
follows  : 

My  Lord  Bishop  :  It  has  been  delegated  to  me  by  some 
of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  Diocese  of  Connecticut  — 
not  only  those  with  whom  it  has  been  my  privilege  to 
share  in  the  events  of  these  ever-to-be-remembered  days, 
but  by  many  whose  hearts  are  following  us  in  all  these, 
services  —  to  place  in  your  hands  this  Chalice  and  Paten, 
and  to  read  the  explanatory  address.  By  the  happy  fore- 
sight which  has  characterized  the  preparations  for  the 
centenary  celebration,  there  is  placed  on  the  wall  of  this 
holy  place  a  copy  of  that  Concordate  in  which  the  three 
Bishops  of  your  Scottish  Church  and  the  first  Bishop  of 
our  American  Church  plighted  their  troth.  It  was  indeed 
a  ''great  mystery"  ;  it  spoke  concerning  Christ  and  His 
Church.  As  I  sat  in  this  chancel  on  Sunday  last,  by  one 
of  those  coincidences  which  I  believe  may  occur  for  the 
eye  of  thankful  faith  as  well  as  for  the  eye  of  sentiment, 
the  sunlight  which  bathed  your  beautiful  city  with  its 
warmth,  so  shone  its  colors  through  that  south  chancel 
window  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  service  they  fell 
athwart  the  Concordate  hanging  on  the  opposite  wall. 
Then,  beginning  at  that,  as  the  service  went  on,  and  as 
the  sun  circled  its  daily  course,  when  the  time  came  for 
the  Consecration-prayer,  the  light  fell  upon  the  sacred 
vessels  of  the  altar.  So  the  sunlight  took  its  way  from 
the  Concordate  which  the  exigencies  and  circumstances 
of  that  far-off  time  demanded,  to  the  symbols  of  that  per- 
petual concordate  which  exists  in  the  one  body  of  Christ 
—  between  the  Head  and  the  members,  between  the  living 
members  of  that  Body,  between  the  living  members  and 
the  members  of  that  Body  in  Paradise.  I  could  not  but 
think  that  the  brief  course  of  the  sunlight  here  might 


1 66  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

stand  for  the  dial  of  the  century  gone.  Exigencies  and 
circumstances  that  are  special,  require  special  concordates. 
Both  Churches  then  had  them,  and  they  framed  that 
agreement.  The  century  has  led  us  around  from  those 
exigencies  and  circumstances  to  a  condition  of  prosperity, 
in  which  the  only  thought  need  be  of  the  supreme  con- 
cordate  in  the  Communion  of  the  most  precious  Body  and 
Blood  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  May  this 
Chalice  and  Paten,  the  symbols  of  the  renewed  troth  of 
the  Churches,  be  the  symbols  of  all  prosperity  for  both, 
as  in  the  Master's  work  they  enjoy  ''the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 

Mr.  Nichols  then  read  the  formal  letter  of  presentation, 
as  follows  : 

Diocese  of  Connecticut,  July,  1884. 
To  tJie  Bishop  of  Aberdeen y  representing  the  Church  of 
Scotland: 
The  Diocese  of  Connecticut  has  formally  expressed, 
through  its  official  representatives,  its  appreciation  of  the 
courageous  and  intelligent  action  of  your  predecessors 
one  hundred  years  ago.  But  it  has  seemed  to  a  few  of 
the  clergy  and  laity,  who  are  confident  that  they  repre- 
sent herein  the  general  feeling  of  our  people,  that  a  fur- 
ther memorial  may  be  fittingly  presented ;  and  we  beg 
you  to  accept,  to  keep,  and  to  transmit  to  your  successors, 
this  Chalice  and  Paten,  as  a  token  of  our  gratitude  to  you 
and  to  God  for  the  two  great  benefits  which  through  you, 
in  His  providence,  have  come  to  us.  Those  benefits  are 
the  Episcopate  and  the  Eucharistic  Office  —  the  former, 
to  use  the  very  words  of  your  own  Bishop  Kilgour,  ''free, 
valid,  and  purely  ecclesiastical;"  the  latter  embodying 
features  which  are  at  once  an  expression  and  an  earnest 


Presentation  of  Paten  and  Chalice.  167 

of  those  ''catholic  and  primitive  principles,"  both  doc- 
trinal and  liturgical,  for  which  the  Church  of  Scotland 
has  long  been  distinguished,  and  to  which  she  has  pledged 
the  Church  in  Connecticut. 

The  gift  which  we  offer,  right  reverend  Sir,  is  great 
only  in  what  it  thus  symbolizes  and  the  uses  to  which  it 
is  consecrated.  In  these  vessels  the  memorial  before 
God  will  be  presented,  and  from  them  the  sacrament  of 
life  and  unity  will  be  dispensed.  May  that  memorial  be 
graciously  received  whensoever,  by  whomsoever,  and  for 
whatsoever  offered.  May  that  sacrament  of  unity  bind 
together  in  one,  us  the  children,  with  them  the  fathers 
who  kept  that  which  was  entrusted  to  them,  committing 
it  only  to  faithful  men,  and  who,  having  departed  this  life 
with  the  seal  of-  faith,  do  now  rest  in  peace. 

And  may  the  Lord  accept  the  sacrifices  and  interces- 
sions of  His  people  everywhere,  and  speedily  accomplish 
the  number  of  His  elect,  that  we,  the  living,  together 
with  them,  the  departed,  may  be  made  perfect  in  His 
glorious  and  everlasting  kingdom. 

Faithfully  and  affectionately  yours,  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  in  the  unity  of  His  Church, 

John  Townsend,    \ 

John  J.  McCook,  >  Committee. 

Wm.   F.  Nichols,  ) 

E.   E.  Beardsley,  Chairman  of  the  Meeting. 

The  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  in  reply,  said  : 

Right  reverend  father  in  God,  my  reverend  brethren, 
and  the  whole  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Connecticut, 
elect  of  God  and  precious,  we  receive  these  sacred  vessels 
at  your  hands  with  such  feelings  of  gratitude  and  thank- 
fulness, both  toward  God  who  hath  put  this  into  your 


1 68  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

hearts,  and  toward  yourselves,  beloved  in  the  Lord,  as  no 
utterance  of  our  lips  can  ever  express.  In  this  beautiful 
Chalice  and  Paten,'  so  graciously  bestowed  on  us,  we  rec- 
ognize, venerable  father  and  dear  brethren  of  the  Church 
in  Connecticut,  the  expression  both  of  your  faith  toward 
God  and  of  your  love  toward  us.  In  this  gift  we  behold 
the  visible  evidence  of  your  faith  in  the  promise  of  God 
that  endureth  from  generation  to  generation  :  "  When  I 
see  the  blood  I  will  pass  over  you,"  and  your  trust  in  the 
assurance  of  His  Holy  Word  :  "  The  cup  of  blessing 
which  we  bless,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  Blood  of 
Christ  ? "  And  here,  too,  is  the  evidence  of  your  love 
toward  us,  in  that  ye  long  that  we  should  be  "  partakers 
with  you  in  the  One  Bread  and  One  Body ;  for  we  are  all 
partakers  of  that  One  Bread."  As  we  use  these  sacred 
gifts  in  our  highest  act  of  worship  and  nearest  approach 
to  God,  we  shall  ever  rejoice  in  the  consciousness  of  your 
love  toward  us  in  the  communion  of  saints,  and  that  you 
share  with  us  in  the  precious  heritage  of  the  great  liturgy 
bequeathed  to  us  by  our  fathers  in  the  faith.  Venerable 
father  and  dear  brethren,  these  days  of  praise  and  thanks- 
giving to  God  and  communion  one  with  another,  will  assur- 
edly leave  their  impression  on  the  Church  in  America 
and  Scotland  for  all  eternity.  Our  Eucharistic  worship 
to-day  is  surely  blended  with  the  same  worship  offered  a 
hundred  years  ago  by  our  fathers  in  God  and  your  saintly 
predecessor  in  that  humble  upper  chamber.  May  we  who 
have  knelt  to-day  in  the  unseen  presence  of  our  Divine 
Lord  and  Master,  unite  with  them  and  with  one  another 
in  the  adoration  of  the  unclouded  glory  of  His  visible 
presence  for  all  eternity. 

The  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  then  proceeded  with  the  Com- 
munion-service according  to  the  English  rite,  being  assis- 
ted by  the  Bishop  of  Edinburgh  and  the  Bishop  of  Glas- 


Presentation  of  Address,  169 

gow.  The  Paten  and  Chalice  just  presented  were  used 
in  the  consecration  and  administration  of  the  sacred  ele- 
ments. 

Divine  Service  being  ended  and  the  Synod  having  been 
duly  constituted,  after  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut  had  pre- 
sented to  the  Synod  an  address  from  the  Bishops  of  the 
American  Church  and  a  reply  had  been  made  by  the 
Bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  presiding  in  the  Synod,  the 
Connecticut  delegation  presented  the  address  from  the 
Convention  of  their  diocese,  engrossed  upon  parchment, 
which  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley,  as  follows  : 

TO  THE  BISHOPS  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH: 
HEALTH  AND  GREETING  IN  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 
AMEN. 

Right  Reverend  Fathers : 

The  Bishop,  Clergy,  and  Laity  of  the  Diocese  of 
Connecticut,  in  Convention  assembled,  send  to  you,  by 
the  hands  of  faithful  brethren,  these  presents,  in  glad 
remembrance  that  your  predecessors  in  office  were 
moved,  a  hundred  years  ago,  to  raise  and  consecrate  to 
the  Order  of  Bishops  the  Reverend  Samuel  Seabury, 
Doctor  in  Divinity. 

We  do  honor  to  their  fidelity  to  the  Church  of  Christ 
and  to  the  purity  of  their  motives  when  they  declared 
that  they  had  ''no  other  object  in  view  but  the  interest 
of  the  Mediator's  Kingdom,  no  higher  ambition  than  to 
do  their  duty  as  messengers  of  the  Prince  of  Peace." 
By  their  act  we  received  "  the  blessings  of  a  free,  valid, 
and  purely  ecclesiastical  Episcopacy,"  and  our  hitherto 
**  inorganized  Church "  became  duly  equipped  for  the 
work  it  has  since  done  and  the  witness  it  has  borne. 

The  language  of  the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  when  they 
acknowledged  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  September,  Anno 
Domini  1785,  with  ''the  warmest  sentiments  of  gratitude 
15 


I/O  Commemoratioti  at  Aberdeen. 

and  esteem,"  the  pastoral  letter  addressed  to  them  as  a 
sequel  to  the  consecration  of  their  Bishop  and  the  Con- 
cordate,  may  well  be  called  to  mind  once  more :  "  Greatly 
are  we  indebted  to  the  venerable  fathers  for  their  kind 
and  Christian  interposition,  and  we  heartily  thank  God 
that  He  did,  of  His  mercy,  put  it  into  their  hearts  to 
consider  and  relieve  our  necessity.  Our  utmost  exertions 
shall  be  joined  with  those  of  our  Bishop  to  preserve  the 
unity  of  faith,  doctrine,  discipline,  and  uniformity  of 
worship  with  the  Church  from  which  we  derived  our 
Episcopacy,  and  with  which  it  will  be  our  praise  and 
happiness  to  keep  up  the  most  intimate  intercourse  and 
communion." 

At  that  time  the  Catholic  remainder  of  the  ancient 
Church  of  Scotland  and  the  Church  in  this  new  world 
were  in  the  dust.  The  one  was  suffering  from  public 
disabilities,  and  the  other  lay  prostrate  from  the  effects 
of  war ;  its  churches  were  dismantled,  its  congregations 
scattered,  and  but  a  remnant  of  its  clergy  and  people 
could  be  found  to  build  up  again  the  broken  walls. 
To-day  all  things  wear  a  new  look.  You  are  working 
with  better  and  brighter  hopes  than  your  predecessors 
could  possibly  have ;  and  we  can  assure  you  that  the 
expectations  of  our  honored  forefathers  in  the  faith  have 
been  wonderfully  fulfilled,  so  that  the  Church  in  Connec- 
ticut has  become  ''a  fair  and  fruitful  branch  of  the 
Church  universal."  Our  clergy  have  increased  tenfold, 
and  our  parishes  have  acquired  both  strength  and  public 
influence,  and  we  stand  to-day  upon  the  old  foundations 
and  perpetuate  the  love  of  our  early  clergy  and  people 
for  primitive  truth  and  Apostolic  order.  The  generations 
after  us  will  never  forget  the  debt  of  gratitude  due  to  the 
Bishops  of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church  for  their  help- 
ing hands  in  the  day  of  our  weakness  and  need ;  the  bond 


Presentation  of  Address.  171 

of  Christian  fellowship  sealed  in  the  Concordate  by  your 
predecessors  and  our  first  Bishop  will  continue  to  be 
recognized  and  cherished,  as  it  has  been  by  our  fathers. 

Invoking  the  Divine  blessing  upon  the  Scottish  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  asking  your  prayers  and  benediction,  we 
are,  right  reverend  fathers,  your  dutiful  servants  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

In  behalf  of  the  Bishop,  Clergy,  and  Laity  of  the 
Diocese  of  Connecticut  : 

Edwin  Harwood,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church, 

New  Haven; 
Samuel  Fermor   Jarvis,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Trinity 

Church,  Brooklyn ; 
Samuel  Hart,  M.  A.,    Presbyter  and   Professor  in 

Trinity  College,  Hartford ; 
William  T.  Minor,  LL.D.,  Lay  Delegate,  St.  John's 

Parish,  Stamford ; 
John  C.  Hollister,  M.  A.,  Lay  Delegate,  St.  Paul's 

Parish,  New  Haven. 

Dated  at  New  London,  June  loth,  A.  D.  1884. 

The  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  read  the  following  reply  of 
the  Synod  to  the  address  from  the  Diocese  of  Connec- 
ticut : 

To  the  Right  Reverend  John  Williams,  D.D.,  LL.D.y 
Bishop  of  Connecticut,  the  Reverend  the  Clergy,  and  the 
faithful  Laity  of  the  Diocese,  from  the  Bishops  of  the 
Episcopal  Chnrch  in  Scotland  in  Synod  assembled :  Love 
and  greeting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

To  receive  any  representatives  of  the  American  Church 
to-day  and  to  accord  them  a  hearty  welcome  must  be  a 
cause  of  sincere  satisfaction  to  us ;  but  in  greeting  you, 


1/2  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

dear  brother,  whom  God  has  set  over  Seabury's  own 
diocese  of  Connecticut,  and  those  who  accompany  you 
as  representing  your  flock,  we  experience  a  peculiar 
pleasure.  For  giving  us  the  happiness  of  seeing  you 
here  to-day  we  thank  you  sincerely,  and  we  thank 
the  faithful  of  your  diocese  for  providing  that  their 
Bishop,  in  now  visiting  the  scene  of  his  heroic  predeces- 
sor's consecration,  should  not  be  unattended  by  some  of 
their  own  number,  whose  presence  should  be  expressive 
of  the  interest  which  they  themselves  feel  in  the  event 
which  we  are  commemorating,  and  also  (as  we  are  glad 
to  believe)  of  their  love  towards  the  Church  which  gave 
them  their  first  bishop. 

"Connecticut,"  said  the  saintly  Bishop  Alexander 
Jolly  in  his  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Maryland  in  1816, 
"  has  been  a  word  of  peculiar  endearment  to  me  since  the 
happy  day  when  I  had  the  honour  and  joy  of  being  intro- 
duced to  the  first  ever-memorable  bishop  of  that  highly 
favored  see,  whose  name  ever  excites  in  my  heart  the 
warmest  veneration." 

The  Scottish  Church,  dear  brother,  finds  in  these 
words  a  true  expression  of  her  own  feelings  —  feelings 
which  the  visit  which  we  have  ''the  honour  and  joy"  of 
receiving  to-day  from  so  worthy  a  successor  of  Connec- 
ticut's first  bishop,  will  serve  to  intensify  for  the  future. 
You  will  the  more  readily  therefore  believe,  brother,  that 
the  words  of  gratitude  towards  our  Church,  which,  in 
your  own  name  and  in  the  name  of  your  diocese,  have 
just  been  spoken,  must  be  in  the  highest  degree  gratify- 
ing to  us. 

We  cordially  unite  with  you  in  your  expressions  of 
thankfulness  to  Almighty  God  for  the  work  which  he  has 
vouchsafed   to  carry   out  through   the  agency  of   those 


Presentation  of  Address.  173 

branches  of  His  Church  which  you  and  we  respectively 
represent. 

We  rejoice  to  hear  of  the  vigorous  life  which  the 
Church  in  your  diocese  has  manifested  in  the  remarkable 
growth  which  the  past  century  has  seen  it  make.  We 
pray  that  it  may  continue  to  receive  God's  blessing  in 
rich  abundance,  and  bring  forth  much  fruit  to  His  glory. 

We  have  a  lively  sense  at  the  same  time  of  our  Lord's 
great  mercy  to  ourselves  in  lifting  us  up  from  our  poor 
and  despised  estate,  in  bringing  us  to  comparative  honour, 
and  comforting  us  on  every  side. 

We  trust  that  through  His  grace  the  work,  still 
future,  for  which  He  has  been  training  and  strengthening 
us  through  so  many  generations,  may  be  thoroughly  and 
faithfully  done  by  us  and  by  those  who  will  come  after  us. 

You  allude  approvingly  to  the  Concordate  drawn  up 
and  signed  by  Bishop  Seabury  on  the  one  part  and  his 
consecrators  on  the  other,  which  was,  in  the  language  of 
its  framers,  to  serve  as  a  ''bond  of  union  between  the 
Catholic  remainder  of  the  ancient  Church  of  Scotland 
and  the  now  rising  Church  in  the  State  of  Connecticut," 
and  you  assure  us  that  it  "shall  continue  to  be  maintained 
and  cherished  by  you,  as  it  has  been  by  your  fathers." 

We  have  heard  with  gratification  that  the  desire  to  be 
closely  allied  in  the  matter  of  similarity  of  offices  with 
our  own  Church,  which  has  prevailed  in  your  diocese 
ever  since  the  American  liturgy  was,  under  your  first 
Bishop's  influence,  enriched  by  some  of  the  most  valuable 
of  its  present  features,  is  still  strongly  felt  by  you. 

That  for  all  time  to  come  we  may  be  all  of  one  heart 
and  of  one  soul,  united  in  one  holy  bond  of  truth  and 
peace,  of  faith  and  charity,  and  may  with  one  mind  and 
one  mouth  glorify  the  one  and  only  God,  the  Father,  Son, 


1/4  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

and  Holy  Spirit,  is  our  hearty  prayer  and  our  confident 
hope. 

To  His  love  and  blessing  we  commend  you. 

Charles  Wordsworth,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  Dunk- 
eld,  and  Dunblane ; 

Henry  Cotterill,  Bishop  of  Edinburgh ; 

Wm.  S.  Wilson,  Bishop  of  Glasgow  and  Galloway ; 

Hugh  W.  Jermyn,  Bishop  of  Brechin ; 

Arthur  G.  Douglas,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  and 
Orkney ; 

J.  R.  A.  Chinnery-Haldane,  Bishop  of  Argyll  and 
the  Isles ; 

For  the  Bishop  of  Moray,  Ross,  and  Caithness, 
Primus,  Robert  A.  Eden,  M.  A.,  CommissaryT 
[Seal  of  the  Primus  attached.] 

Before  the  synod  proceeded  to  business,  the  Bishop  of 
Aberdeen  presented  to  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut  a  Pas- 
toral Staff,  the  gift  of  Scotch  Churchmen  to  him  and  his 
successors  in  office,  with  these  words : ' 

No  words  of  mine  can  convey  to  you  the  feelings  of 
gratitude  which  animated  the  hearts  of  all  Scottish  Church- 
men when  they  heard  of  your  remarkable  kindness  in 
coming  to  our  shores  at  this  time  to  celebrate  with  us  our 
service  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God  for 

^  The  Staff  is  of  ebony,  the  upper  part  being  of  silver  parcel  gilt.  The 
crook  proper  has  for  its  central  subject  our  Lord's  charge  to  St.  Peter,  who 
kneels  at  the  Saviour's  feet.  The  pierced  side  of  our  Lord  is  significantly- 
seen,  as  the  drapery  falls  open.  A  vine  is  growing  up  behind  Him  bearing 
grapes  (expressed  by  precious  stones),  and  gathered  at  His  feet  are  sheep 
and  lambs.  The  ornamental  work  of  the  crook  takes  the  form  of  thistle- 
leaves —  in  allusion  to  the  Scotch  origin  of  the  gift  —  and  the  bossy  flowers 
are  expressed  by  cut  amethysts.  The  crook  is  hexagonal  in  plan ;  the  tower 
which  surmounts  the  canopied  niches  immediately  below  the  crook  also 
takes  the  same  shape,  and  accommodates  the  six  figures  introduced.     This 


Presentation  of  Pastoral  Staff.  175 

the  blessing  He  has  bestowed  upon  the  work  of  our  fathers. 
As  a  small  testimony  to  their  venerable  father  and  to  the 
Church  of  his  diocese,  they  ask  Bishop  Williams  to  accept 
this  pastoral  staff.  May  I  point  out  that  there  are  por- 
trayed on  this  staff  figures  which  represent  the  history  of 
the  Church  in  this  land,  and  therefore  a  great  chapter  in 
the  history  of  the  American  Church.  You  will  find  on 
the  staff  the  figure  of  St.  Andrew,  the  patron  saint  of 
Scotland;  you  will  find  also  the  figure  of  St.  John,  re- 
minding you  that  Christianity  reached  Scotland  from 
Eastern  sources ;  you  will  find  the  figure  of  St.  Ninian, 
uniting  the  Scottish  succession  and  ministry  with  the 
Celtic  Church ;  and  you  will  find  the  figure  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, signifying  that  act  of  brotherly  love  and  communion 
which  we  received  from  the  English  Church,  restoring  to 
us  the  Episcopacy  which  in  troublous  times  had  been  lost ; 
you  will  also  find  the  figure  of  that  Primus  of  the  Church 
who  was  the  chief  consecrating  bishop  of  your  venerable 
Seabury,  and  you  will  find  also  the  figure  of  Seabury  him- 
self. In  the  head  of  this  staff  you  will  recognize  the  figure 
of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  giving  His  divine  com- 
mission to  St.  Peter  and  to  all  others  ordained  and  con- 
secrated to  the  same  sacred  office :  '  Feed  my  sheep ;  feed 
my  lambs  '  I  will  rejoice  to  think  that  this  staff,  which 
you  and  your  successors  will  carry  on  your  confirmations 
and  visitations    and  other  episcopal  acts,  by  reminding 

hexagonal  tower  has  Gothic  tracery,  with  pinnacles,  pillars,  and  canopies, 
enriched  with  cairngorms.  The  figures  (St.  John,  St.  Andrew,  St.  Ninian, 
St.  Augustine  of  Canterbury,  Primus  Kilgour,  and  Bishop  Seabury)  repre- 
sented in  the  niches,  are  intended  to  illustrate  the  main  points  in  the  Epis- 
copal succession  and  the  characteristics  of  the  Scottish  Church.  The  tower 
is  supported  upon  a  carved  capital  with  six  ameth3^sts  between  repousse 
oak-leaves,  and  is  jointed  to  a  circular  boss  surrounded  with  four  vertical 
bands  enriched  with  cairngorms,  while  between  the  bands  are  carbuncles 
set  off  by  filigree  work.  There  are  also  silver  bosses  at  the  joints  of  the 
ebony  portions  of  the  staff. 


1/6  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

you  of  the  sanctuary  where  we  have  just  now  held  our 
great  service  to  God,  and  of  the  figure  of  the  Good  Shep- 
herd which  stands  over  its  altar,  will  not  only  recall  to 
you  the  pastoral  work  in  which  it  is  your  high  office  and 
privilege  ever  to  minister,  but  will  encourage  you  to  seek 
also  the  blessing  and  the  favour  of  the  chief  Bishop  and 
Pastor  of  souls.  In  now  presenting  you  with  this  emblem 
of  your  sacred  office,  as  I  have  the  privilege  of  doing  on 
behalf  of  the  Scottish  Church,  I  may  mention  that  many 
of  the  offeriiigs  that  have  been  given  towards  it  have  been 
the  pence  of  the  very  poorest  in  the  land. 

Bishop  Williams,  in  acknowledging  the  presentation, 
said: 

There  are  times  and  things  concerning  which  words 
utterly  fail  and  must  fail  to  give  utterance  to  the  feelings 
of  the  heart,  and  this,  let  me  say,  is  one  of  those  times  — 
a  day  that  I  can  never  forget,  a  day  for  which  —  though 
most  unworthy  of  what  has  been  given  me  —  I  must  always 
feel  the  devoutest  thankfulness  to  Almighty  God.  A 
hundred  years  ago  you  gave  my  great  predecessor  here  in 
Scotland  the  office  of  Bishop  in  the  Church  of  God,  and 
now  this  day,  a  hundred  years  after,  in  the  fulness  of  your 
loving  hearts  and  kindly  remembrances  of  that  great  act, 
you  give  Bishop  Seabury's  successor  the  sacred  symbol 
of  the  same  high  office  in  the  Church.  I  only  wish  it 
were  given  to  worthier  hands;  but  I  can  pledge  myself 
to  this,  that  to  my  successors  as  they  follow  me  year  after 
year,  and,  if  God  so  wills,  century  after  century,  the  staff 
will  be  handed  down  as  a  most  sacred  deposit  and  memo- 
rial. It  will  drop  from  many  a  hand  before  another 
hundred  years  go  by  and  another  gathering  takes  place 
here  in  this  place  of  sacred  memories,  but  the  office  of 
which  the  staff  is  the  symbol  —  that  office,  I  thank  God, 


Dr.  Beardsleys  Paper,  177 


never  dies.  Men  pass  away,  the  office  lives  on  ;  and  though 
many  hands  that  shall  have  held  this  staff  may  by  that 
time  be  folded  in  the  sleep  of  death,  I  trust  that  when  the 
hundred  years  come  round  again,  my  successor  may  come 
here,  as  I,  Bishop  Seabury's  successor,  have  come,  to  offer 
to  the  Bishops  of  the  Scottish  Church,  to  its  clergy,  and 
its  faithful  laity,  the  assurance  of  his  deep  love  and  un- 
dying gratitude  that  they  were  bound  together  in  one 
common  bond  of  one  holy  faith,  and  in  a  common  love  of 
one  living  Lord  and  of  each  other.  I  trust  that  that  day 
will  show  the  whole  world,  as  this  day  has  done, ''  how  good 
and  joyful  a  thing  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in 
unity." 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  a  conference  was 
held  in  the  Albert  Hall,  at  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  Beardsley 
read  the  following  paper : 

SEABURY   AS   A    BISHOP. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  within  the  last  week  — 
never  too  much,  I  trust  —  of  that  grand  man  who  left  the 
shores  of  America  a  century  ago,  and  came  to  the  mother 
country  in  quest  of  a  spiritual  gift  which,  for  reasons  of 
state,  was  refused  him  by  the  Bishops  of  the  Church  of 
England; 

In  the  providence  of  God,  and  under  instructions  from 
the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  who  selected  and  sent  him 
over,  he  found  his  way  to  Aberdeen,  and  was  here  duly 
raised  to  the  Apostolic  office,  and  so  became  the  head  of 
an  anxious  and  long-waiting  body,  as  well  as  the  first 
Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America. 

The  many  blessings  which  have  flowed  from  this  act 
of  consecration  by  the  Scottish  Bishops  have  been  recog- 


1/8  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

nized  and  recounted  again  and  again,  and  it  is  not  my 
purpose  to  dwell  on  them  now;  but  rather  to  speak  of 
that  part  of  the  life  of  Seabury  which  covers  the  exercise 
of  his  Episcopal  office. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  do  this,  let  me  step  back  for  a 
few  moments  under  the  arches  of  history,  and  make  two 
or  three  references  to  show  that  our  Church  in  America 
is  indebted  to  Scotland,  and  especially  to  Aberdeen,  for 
other  favors  besides  the  gift  of  Episcopacy.  You  gave  us 
men  who  were  great  historic  pioneers  in  our  ecclesiastical 
existence.  The  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  was  chartered  in  i/oi,  and 
for  three-quarters  of  a  century  its  chief  field  of  labor  was 
in  New  England.  This  fact  may  be  ignored,  but  it  forms 
an  important  and  salient  feature  in  its  early  history ;  and 
what  is  remarkable,  the  very  first  missionary  sent  out  by 
the  Society  to  the  American  colonies  was  a  native  of 
Aberdeen,  George  Keith,  a  school  companion  of  the 
celebrated  Gilbert  Burnet,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  whom  he 
mentions  in  his  "  History  of  his-  own  Time."  And  then 
that  wonderfully  numerous  tribe  or  family,  which  always 
has  its  representatives  in  every  Christian  country  of  the 
wide  world,  furnished  us  William  Smith,  born  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Dee,  not  far  from  this  city,  a  man 
with  glaring  imperfections  of  character,  but  a  scholar  and 
a  divine,  who  knelt  side  by  side  with  Seabury  in  the 
chapel  of  Fulham  Palace  when  they  were  admitted  to 
Holy  Orders,  and  who  subsequently  became  a  conspicuous 
actor  in  the  organization  and  establishment  of  our  Ameri- 
can Church,  having  been  the  first  President  of  the  House 
of  Deputies,  and  having  guided  that  body  to  concurrence 
with  the  House  of  Bishops  in  revising  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  and  accepting  the  Scotch  Communion-office. 
We  might  not  have  had  this  office  in  its  present  shape 


Dr.  Beardsley  s  Paper.  179 

had  he  not  risen  to  favor  its  adoption  when  signs  of  dis- 
satisfaction and  a  disposition  to  reject  it  appeared. 

Still  again  we  are  indebted  to  another  native  of  Aber- 
deenshire, known  in  our  history  as  William  Smith  the 
younger,  who  went  to  America  soon  after  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  American  Independence,  being  in  Holy  Orders 
which  he  received  in  Scotland,  and,  having  served  the 
Church  for  a  time  in  other  States  of  our  Republic,  ap- 
peared in  Connecticut,  and  held  important  educational 
and  parochial  positions  in  that  diocese.  The  office  for 
the  Institution  or  Induction  of  Ministers  into  parishes  or 
churches,  set  forth  in  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  was 
compiled  by  him.  He  was  a  man  of  much  learning,  ardent 
temperament,  and  quick  impulses.  He  possessed  singular 
versatility  of  talents,  was  a  composer  of  church  music, 
and  a  constructor  of  church  organs.  He  was  a  pioneer 
in  our  country  in  chanting,  and  did  us  good  service  in 
overcoming  or  diminishing  the  popular  love  for  a  Puritan 
style  of  metrical  psalm-singing. 

Men  of  this  stamp  went  to  America  when  our  Church 
was  in,  or  passing  through,  a  broken  and  disordered  con- 
dition, and  we  have  reason  to  be  thankful  to  them  for  the 
aid  they  rendered  us  when  we  were  sorely  in  need.  I 
believe  we  are  thankful.  I  believe  there  is  a  growing 
interest  among  our  people  in  the  Scottish  Church,  an 
increasing  desire  that  Churches  of  the  one  faith  —  English, 
Scotch,  Irish,  and  American  —  should  have  a  closer  bond 
of  fellowship,  and  rejoice  more  heartily  in  each  other's 
prosperity.  It  is  a  good  thing  that  we  have  come  together 
on  this  centennial  occasion  and  mingled  our  congratula- 
tions. As  we  have  met  here  face  to  face,  we  have  learned 
to  respect  ourselves  more,  and,  I  hope,  to  love  and  respect 
each  other  more. 

But   let   me   leave   these   references,    and   draw   your 


i8o  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

thoughts  around  Seabury  in  his  Episcopal  character. 
On  the  morning  of  a  bleak  November  Sunday  in  1784  we 
enter  an  "  upper  room  "  in  Longacre,  built  and  fitted  for 
Divine  worship,  and  find  there  three  of  the  four  bishops 
then  administering  the  dioceses  of  the  Scottish  Church ; 
and  after  prayers  and  a  suitable  sermon,  they  proceed  to 
consecrate  this  self-sacrificing  servant  of  God  to  the  Apos- 
tolic office.  Though  the  penal  laws  enacted  against  the 
clergy  of  the  Scottish  Church  had  not  yet  been  repealed, 
their  edge  had  worn  away,  or  they  had  ceased  altogether 
to  be  enforced,  so  that  the  service  was  in  no  manner 
secret.  It  was  witnessed  by  a  number  of  respectable 
clergymen,  and  a  large  body  of  laity,  "  on  which  occasion 
all  testified  great  satisfaction."  As  the  letter  of  Consecra- 
tion reads  :  PrescntibiLS  tain  e  Clero  q?iam  e  Popiilo  Testibiis 
idoneis.  The  occasion  was  a  memorable  and  particularly 
solemn  one.  Seabury  himself  said  of  it :  "  It  was  the 
most  solemn  day  of  all  my  life  —  God  grant  I  may  never 
forget  it." 

He  preached  in  the  afternoon  of  the  day  of  his  con- 
secration, and  his  earnestness  and  manner  of  address, 
accompanied  with  gesticulations,  which  appear  not  to  have 
been  common  in  Scotland  at  that  period,  made  a  favor- 
able impression.  On  his  return  to  London,  he  stopped 
at  Edinburgh,  where  his  friend  and  fellow-sufferer  in  the 
trials  of  the  American  Revolution,  Dr.  Myles  Cooper, 
with  others,  welcomed  him,  and  gave  him  hearty  congratu- 
lations on  the  accomplishment  of  his  mission.  From  this 
city,  he  wrote  to  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Boucher,  vicar  of 
Epsom  in  Surrey,  who  had  interested  himself  in  his  appli- 
cation, to  acquaint  him,  as  he  had  promised  to  do,  with 
the  success  of  his  visit  to  Scotland.  ''The  Church  in 
Connecticut,"  said  he,  "has  only  done  her  duty  in  en- 
deavoring to  obtain  the  Episcopacy  for  herself,  and  I  have 


Dr.  Beardsley  s  Paper.  i8i 

only  done  my  duty  in  carrying  her  endeavors  into  execu- 
tion. Political  reasons  prevented  her  application  from 
being  complied  with  in  England.  It  was  natural  in  the 
next  instance  to  apply  to  Scotland,  whose  Episcopacy, 
though  now  under  a  cloud,  is  the  very  same  in  every 
ecclesiastical  sense  with  the  English." 

He  had  grown  up  and  lived  hitherto  under  the  influence 
of  the  highest  veneration  for  the  Church  of  England,  and 
his  attachment  to  her  was  still  strong,  notwithstanding 
he  considered  it  bad  policy  that  his  application  for  conse- 
cration had  been  rejected  by  the  English  Bishops.  He 
began  to  fear,  however,  that  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  might  cease  to  aid  him,  which  would 
be  a  result  to  be  deplored  for  other  than  pecuniary  reasons. 
"  Should  the  Society  itself,"  said  he,  "  be  obliged  to  take 
such,a  step,  though  I  shall  be  sorry  for  it  and  hurt  by  it, 
I  shall  not  be  dejected.  If  my  father  and  mother  forsake 
me,  if  the  governors  of  the  Church  and  the  Society  dis- 
card me,  I  shall  still  be  that  humble  pensioner  of  Divine 
Providence  which  I  have  been  through  my  whole  life. 
God,  I  trust,  will  take  me  up,  continue  His  goodness  to 
me,  and  bless  my  endeavors  to  serve  the  cause  of  His 
infant  Church  in  Connecticut.  I  trust  that  it  is  not  the 
loss  of  ;£50  per  annum  that  I  dread  —  though  that  is  an 
object  of  some  importance  to  a  man  who  has  nothing  — 
but  the  consequences  that  must  ensue,  the  total  alienation 
of  regard  and  affection." 

His  path  was  not  yet  cleared  of  trials  and  perplexities, 
for  on  reaching  London  he  found  those  high  in  authority 
so  dissatisfied  with  the  step  he  had  taken  that  they  pro- 
nounced it  precipitate.  *'  Since  my  return  from  Scotland," 
said  he  in  his  first  pastoral  letter  to  the  clergy  of  Con- 
necticut, "  I  have  seen  none  of  the  bishops,  but  I  have 
been  informed  that  the  step  I  have  taken  has  displeased 
i6 


1 82  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

the  two  Archbishops,  and  it  is  now  a  matter  of  doubt 
whether  I  shall  be  continued  on  the  Society's  list.  The 
day  before  I  set  out  on  my  northern  journey  I  had  an 
interview  with  each  of  the  Archbishops,  when  my  design 
was  avowed,  so  that  the  measure  was  known,  though  it 
has  made  no  noise.  My  own  poverty  is  one  of  the  greatest 
discouragements  I  have.  Two  years'  absence  from  my 
family,  and  expensive  residence  here,  have  more  than 
expended  all  I  had.  But  in  so  good  a  cause,  and  of  such 
magnitude,  something  must  be  risked  by  somebody.  To 
my  lot  it  has  fallen ;  I  have  done  it  cheerfully,  and  despair 
not  of  a  happy  issue." 

All  his  apprehensions  in  regard  to  aid  were  realized, 
though  he  wrote  a  most  admirable  letter  to  the  Venerable 
Society  giving  a  concise  history  of  his  mission  to  England, 
and  making  a  pathetic  appeal  for  future  remembrance 
and  consideration.  After  a  delay  of  two  months,  it  was 
acknowledged  by  the  Secretary  without  recognizing  his 
official  character,  being  addressed  '*To  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Seabury,  New  London,  Connecticut."  He  was  told  that 
his  case  was  comprehended  under  the  general  rule,  that 
the  charter  would  not  allow  the  Society  to  ''  employ  any 
missionaries  except  in  the  plantations,  colonies,  and  fac- 
tories belonging  to  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain." 

Bishop  Seabury  received  from  the  British  Government 
;£50  per  annum  half-pay  as  a  chaplain  in  the  King's 
American  regiment  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution; 
and  a  few  of  his  fast  friends  in  England  —  among  them 
Dr.  Home,  then  Dean  of  Canterbury,  Rev.  Jonathan 
Boucher,  and  William  Stevens,  Esq. —  associated  them- 
selves together  and  engaged  to  send  him  annually  £,^0 
from  the  date  of  his  arrival  in  Connecticut.  This  engage- 
ment was  faithfully  kept  to  the  day  of  his  death,  and  was 


Dr.  Beards  ley's  Paper.  183 

an  equivalent  for  the  stipend  which  had  been  withdrawn 
by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 

His  preparations  for  returning  to  America  were  now 
completed,  and  early  in  March,  1785,  he  embarked  in  a 
ship  commanded  by  Captain  Dawson,  which  sailed  from 
London  for  Halifax.  His  main  object  in  going  by  the 
way  of  Nova  Scotia  was  to  see  the  situation  of  that  part 
of  his  family  then  resident  in  that  neighborhood.  He  is 
recorded  as  officiating  at  Annapolis  Royal,  April,  1785, 
and  was,  therefore,  the  first  bishop  of  our  Church  who 
preached  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  Mention  is  also 
made  of  his  preaching  several  Sundays  in  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  where  a  daughter  with  her  husband  was  living 
at  the  time. 

He  landed  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  after  a  voyage 
of  three  months,  including  his  stay  in  Canada,  Monday, 
June  20th ;  and  the  next  Sunday  he  preached  in  Trinity 
Church  in  that  place,  the  first  sermon  of  an  American 
bishop  in  the  United  States,  from  the  text  (Hebrews 
xii.  I,  2):  "Wherefore  seeing  we  also  are  compassed 
about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside 
every  weight  and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us, 
and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before 
us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our 
faith." 

More  than  half  a  century  prior  to  this,  a  great  dignitary 
of  the  Church  of  England,  Dean  Berkeley,  after  a  voyage 
of  nearly  five  months  from  Gravesend,  arrived  at  the  same 
port,  and  preached  many  times  in  the  same  church,  which 
is  still  standing.  The  missions  of  these  men  had  many 
points  of  resemblance;  but  while  one,  after  a  trial  of  more 
than  two  years  and  a  half,  failed  to  accomplish  his  heroic 
object,  and  returned  to  the  land  of  his  birth  to  be  honored 
with  a  mitre  in  the  see  of  Cloyne,  the  other  was  blessed 


184  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

in  his  work,  and  lived  to  behold  the  Church  in  America 
united  in  the  adoption  of  a  revised  liturgy,  and  settled 
upon  the  old  "foundation  of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone." 

The  next  step  of  Bishop  Seabury  was  to  arrange  for  a 
meeting  with  his  clergy,  and  he  wrote  immediately  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Jarvis,  who  had  acted  as  their  secretary,  and 
invited  him  to  New  London  to  consult  with  him  on  the 
time  and  place.  It  was  held  in  Middletown  on  the  2d  of 
August,  1785 — a  meeting  full  of  joy  to  both  parties  — 
and  the  clergy,  in  their  address  of  congratulation  and  for- 
mal recognition,  said  among  other  things :  "  We,  in  the 
presence  of  Almighty  God,  declare  to  the  world,  that  we 
do  unanimously  accept,  receive,  and  recognize  you  to  be 
our  Bishop,  supreme  in  the  government  of  the  Church,  and 
in  the  administration  of  all  ecclesiastical  offices.  And  we 
do  solemnly  engage  to  render  you  all  that  respect,  duty, 
and  submission,  which  we  believe  do  belong  and  are  due 
to  your  high  office,  and  which,  we  understand,  were  given 
by  the  presbyters  to  their  bishop  in  the  primitive  Church, 
while  in  her  native  purity  she  was  unconnected  with  and 
uncontrolled  by  any  secular  power." 

The  Bishop  opened  his  reply  to  this  address  with 
hearty  thanks  to  the  clergy  for  their  kind  congratulations 
on  his  safe  return,  and  cordially  united  with  them  in  their 
joy  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  important  business 
which  he  had  been  excited  to  undertake.  His  first  ordi- 
nation was  held  on  this  occasion,  and  steps  were  taken  to 
make  such  changes  in  the  liturgy  as  might  be  necessary 
to  adapt  it  to  the  use  of  the  Church  in  the  new  civil  rela- 
tions. But  what  added  to  the  interest  and  significance  of 
the  occasion  was  the  charge  which  he  delivered  to  the 
clergy,  so  valuable  both  in  its  teachings  and  its  connec- 
tion with  American  Episcopacy.     The  three  points  which 


Dr.  Beardsleys  Paper,  185 

he  enlarged  upon  in  it  were  the  obhgations  they  were 
under  to  be  very  careful  of  **the  doctrines  which  they 
preached  from  the  pulpit  or  inculcated  in  conversation"; 
to  be  cautious  about  giving  recommendations  to  candi- 
dates for  Holy  Orders,  whose  moral  character,  learning, 
and  abilities  were  not  only  to  be  exactly  inquired  into,  but 
their  good  temper,  prudence,  diligence,  and  everything  by 
which  their  usefulness  in  the  ministry  might  be  affected. 
"  A  clergyman,"  said  he,  ''  who  does  no  good  always  does 
hurt;  there  is  no  medium."  The  third  point  of  the  charge 
was  upon  the  necessity  of  immediate  attention  to  that  old 
and  sacred  rite  handed  down  by  the  primitive  Church, 
the  laying-on  of  hands  in  Confirmation  —  a  rite  which, 
for  want  of  the  proper  officer  to  administer  it,  had  hitherto 
been  unused  in  the  American  Church. 

Seabury  had  the  double  work  of  a  bishop  and  a  parish 
minister,  being  rector  of  the  church  in  New  London,  and 
meeting  its  demands  with  the  aid  of  one  of  his  newly- 
ordained  deacons.  His  entrance  upon  the  public  duties 
of  his  Episcopal  office  in  Connecticut  had  been  looked 
forward  to  with  much  curiosity  and  some  prejudice  by 
those  outside  of  the  Church.  The  old  Puritan  dread  of  a 
hierarchy,  instilled  into  the  popular  mind  before  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Colonies,  still  lingered,  and  helped  to 
foster  the  expectation  that  he  would  assume  great  dignity, 
and  appear  in  a  degree  of  external  splendor.  There  was 
disappointment  in  this  respect  when  he  began  the  visita- 
tion of  his  diocese  in  the  simplest  and  most  primitive 
manner,  riding  on  horseback  or  in  a  sulky  over  rough  and 
circuitous  roads,  and  through  regions  sparsely  inhabited. 
A  plain  yeoman,  who  had  never  seen  a  bishop  in  his  robes, 
and  knew  not  how  he  would  appear  in  officiating,  took  an 
early  opportunity  to  gratify  his  curiosity  and  attend  a 
service  where  he  was  to  preach.  The  next  morning  a 
16* 


1 86  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

neighbor,  who  had  not  the  boldness  to  follow  his  example, 
met  him,  and  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  Bishop  Sea- 
bury.  ''Was  he  proud?"  he  inquired.  ''Proud!  Bless 
you,  no!"  was  the  reply.  "Why,  he  preached  in  his 
shirt-sleeves!" 

Beyond  the  labor  of  regulating  and  settling  the  Church 
in  Connecticut  upon  right  principles.  Bishop  Seabury  was 
especially  anxious  that  the  whole  Church  in  the  United 
States  should  be  so  guided  as  to  prevent  any  division  in 
government,  doctrine,  and  discipline.  A  Convention  was 
about  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  to  adopt  an  ecclesiastical 
constitution  and  make  application  for  bishops  in  the 
English  line  of  succession;  and  he  asked,  through  Dr. 
Smith,  and  renewed  the  expression  of  his  sentiments  in  a 
letter  to  Dr.  (afterwards  Bishop)  White  a  few  days  later, 
that  that  body  would  reconsider  certain  measures  which 
it  had  hastily  adopted,  and  which  seemed  to  indicate  a 
forgetfulness  that  "  the  government,  sacraments,  faith,  and 
doctrines  of  the  Church  are  fixed  and  settled."  Among 
his  words  of  wisdom  and  kindness  to  Dr.  Smith  were 
these:  "  My  ground  is  taken,  and  I  wish  not  to- extend 
my  authority  beyond  its  present  limits.  But  I  do  most 
earnestly  wish  to  have  our  Church  in  all  the  States  so 
settled  that  it  may  be  one  Church,  united  in  government, 
doctrine,  and  discipline  —  that  there  may  be  no  divisions 
among  us  —  no  opposition  of  interests- — no  clashing  of 
opinions.  And  permit  me  to  hope  that  you  will  at  your 
approaching  Convention  so  far  recede  in  the  points  I  have 
mentioned  as  to  make  this  practicable.  Your  Conven- 
tion will  be  large  and  very  much  to  be  respected.  Its 
determinations  will  influence  many  of  the  American  States, 
and  posterity  will  be  materially  affected  by  them.  These 
considerations  are  so  many  arguments  for  calm  and  cool 
deliberation.      Human    passions    and    prejudices,   and,   if 


Dr.  Beardsleys  Paper.  187 

possible,  infirmities,  should  be  laid  aside.  A  wrong  step 
will  be  attended  with  dreadful  consequences.  Patience 
and  prudence  must  be  exercised;  and  should  there  be 
some  circumstances  that  press  hard  for  a  remedy,  hasty 
decisions  will  not  mend  them.  In  doubtful  cases  they 
will  probably  have  a  bad  effect." 

The  action  of  the  Convention  in  setting  forth  what  is 
known  in  American  ecclesiastical  history  as  "■  The  Pro- 
posed Book,"  only  made  him  adhere  more  resolutely  to 
the  convictions  of  his  intelligent  mind;  and  his  clergy 
stood  by  him,  and  supported  him  in  the  sound  principles 
which  he  maintained.  "  Depend  not  on  rumors,"  said 
one  of  them,  writing  to  a  friend ;  ''  the  clergy  in  Connec- 
ticut are  well  pleased  with  their  bishop,  and  will  run  the 
risk  of  a  disunion  with  the  Southern  gentry  rather  than 
forsake  him,  if  he  will  stay  with  us.  We  hope,  however, 
better  things  than  that."  And  better  things  did  come  to 
pass.  Attempts  to  cast  discredit  upon  the  validity  of  his 
consecration,  initiated  and  persisted  in  mainly  by  those 
opposed  to  him  on  political  grounds,  were  met  in  a  manly 
and  Christian  spirit,  and  he  took  the  necessary  steps  to 
frustrate  them  without  using  harsh  words  or  doing  more 
than  state  simple  facts.  His  second  and  last  formal 
Charge  to  his  clergy,  delivered  September,  1786,  whether 
considered  in  reference  to  the  unbelief  of  the  times,  or  to 
the  movement  of  the  clergy  and  laity  in  the  Southern 
States  to  revise  and  alter  the  liturgy  and  government  of 
the  Church,  is  a  production  of  remarkable  forecast  and 
wisdom.  At  this  time  he  set  forth  a  Communion-office, 
agreeably  to  the  terms  of  the  Concordate  made  with  the 
Scottish  bishops,  which  gradually  went  into  use  in  the 
diocese,  and  traces  of  this  particular  office  lingered  in 
Connecticut  for  half  a  century.  When  the  union  of  the 
Church  in  all  the  States  was  consummated  in  1789,  and 


1 88  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

the  first  real  General  Convention  held  in  that  year,  con- 
sisting of  a  House  of  Bishops  and  a  House  of  Clerical  and 
Lay  Deputies,  entered  upon  a  review  of  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  the  proposition  to  insert  the  Scottish  form 
of  consecration  was  accepted  and  approved,  the  words 
only  "  That  they  may  become  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Thy 
most  dearly  beloved  Son,"  being  omitted,  and  those  in 
the  English  office  substituted. 

There  were  now  three  bishops  in  the  American 
Church,  and  efforts  were  made  to  bring  them  together  in 
the  consecration  of  a  fourth,  but  without  avail.  Bishops 
White  and  Provoost  considered  themselves  under  an  im- 
plied obligation  not  to  join  in  any  consecration  until  there 
should  be  the  actual  number  of  three  in  the  English  line  of 
succession.  Provoost  was  absent  from  the  Convention  of 
1789,  when  the  Prayer-Book  was  revised,  and  Seabury, 
being  the  senior,  was  made  the  President  of  the  Upper 
House.  He  and  Bishop  White  spent  no  time  in  speeches, 
but  looked  carefully  at  each  point  as  it  came  into  view. 
With  minds  and  characters  differently  constituted  and 
moulded,  they  were  just  the  men  to  be  brought  together  in 
such  an  emergency.  One  was  frank  and  fearless  in  ad- 
hering to  his  settled  convictions,  and  resolute  in  upholding 
the  faith  and  preserving  the  ancient  landmarks  of  the 
Church,  but  not  so  self-willed  and  tenacious  of  his  opin- 
ions that  he  could  not  gracefully  relinquish  them  where 
no  essential  principle  was  involved.  The  other  had  a  less 
rigid  temperament,  and  from  natural  kindness  of  heart, 
and  perhaps  personal  inclination,  he  might  have  been  led 
without  this  check  to  yield  to  the  pressure  of  circumstances 
at  the.  expense  of  a  true  conservatism.  Bishop  White, 
however,  was  not  more  gentle  and  generous  than  capable 
of  appreciating  the  character  of  his  Episcopal  brother; 
and  the  testimony  which  he  bore  long  years  after  was  that 


Dr.  Beardslefs  Paper.  189 

he  "  had  ever  retained  a  pleasing  recollection  of  the  inter- 
views of  that  period,  and  of  the  good  sense  and  Christian 
temper  of  the  person  with  whom  he  was  associated." 

In  1792  another  General  Convention  was  held,  and 
Bishop  Seabury  preached  the  sermon,  which  was  printed 
by  the  request  of  both  Houses,  and  glowed  with  the  true 
spirit  of  Christian  love,  with  that  perfect  and  comprehen- 
sive charity  which  tends  to  preserve  the  peace  and  unity 
of  the  Church  under  all  possible  circumstances. 

By  this  time  James  Madison  had  been  sent  over  and 
consecrated,  in  the  Chapel  of  Lambeth  Palace,  Bishop  of 
Virginia;  and  thus  the  question  of  having  three  bishops 
in  America  of  the  English  succession  before  proceeding 
to  consecrate,  was  put  to  rest. 

The  Church  in  Maryland  elected  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
John  Claggett  its  bishop,  and  deputies  from  that  State 
appeared  with  him  at  this  General  Convention,  and,  with 
the  necessary  documents  in  hand,  presented  him  to  the 
House  of  Bishops,  "requesting  that  his  consecration  might 
be  expedited."  It  was  a  movement  intended  to  unite 
Episcopalians  more  closely  together  by  blending  the  two 
lines  of  succession  and  for  ever  preventing  the  possibility 
of  a  question  arising  in  the  American  Church  as  to  the 
relative  validity  of  the  English  and  Scotch  Episcopacy. 
For  the  application  to  consecrate  Dr.  Claggett  was  not 
made  to  those  only  who  received  their  authority  in  the 
Chapel  at  Lambeth,  but  the  whole  four  were  requested  to 
join  in  the  act,  which  was  solemnized  in  Trinity  Church, 
New  York,  Monday,  September  17,  1792;  and  from  that 
day  not  a  bishop  has  been  consecrated  in  this  Church  who 
cannot  claim  the  succession,  in  part  at  least,  through  the 
Scottish  Episcopate. 

An  incident  connected  with  thexonsecration  ought  not 
to  be  withheld  here,  for  it  shows  the  man  and  his  Christian 


190  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 


spirit.  It  had  been  agreed  at  the  last  General  Convention 
that  the  eldest  bishop  present  —  to  be  reckoned  from  his 
consecration  —  should  be  President  of  the  House,  and  this 
rule,  if  unchanged,  would  have  left  Seabury  to  preside  at 
the  consecration.  But  the  agreement  seemed  to  be  dis- 
pleasing to  Bishops  Provoost  and  Madison,  and  it  was 
proposed  by  them  that  the  presidency  should  go  by  rota- 
tion, beginning  from  the  north,  which  would  take  it  away 
from  him  and  give  it  to  Provoost.  "  I  had  no  inclination," 
says  Seabury,  ''  to  contend  who  should  be  greatest  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  therefore  readily  consented  to 
relinquish  the  presidency  into  the  hands  of  Bishop  Pro- 
voost. I  thank  God  for  His  grace  on  this  occasion,  and 
beseech  Him  that  no  self-exaltation  or  envy  of  others  may 
ever  lead  me  into  debate  and  contention,  but  that  I  may 
ever  be  willing  to  be  the  least  when  the  peace  of  His 
Church  requires  it." 

Great  duties  were  now  resting  upon  him,  for  besides 
Connecticut  he  virtually  had  the  oversight  of  all  the  Epis- 
copal parishes  in  New  England ;  and  in  1 790  those  in 
Rhode  Island  met  in  Convention  and  formally  declared 
him  to  be  the  bishop  of  the  Church  in  that  State.  This 
necessitated  long  journeys  and  long  absences  from  his 
home,  and  the  only  compensation  for  lack  of  speed  and 
comfort  in  the  modes  of  conveyance  at  that  period  was  the 
cheerful  hospitality  which  everywhere  awaited  him.  In 
moving  about  from  place  to  place  he  was  the  Christian 
bishop  and  the  agreeable  companion  as  well.  His  famili- 
arity with  subjects  outside  of  theology,  and  his  ready 
retort  upon  those  who  attempted  now  and  then  to  draw 
the  Church  or  his  office  into  ridicule,  were  pleasant  features 
of  his  life,  treasured  and  handed  down  to  us  by  the  gen- 
eration to  which  he  belonged. 

On  the  occasion  of  his  first  visit  to  Boston  he  called  on 


Dr.  Beardsleys  Paper.  191 

Dr.  Mather  Byles,  then  living  in  retirement,  who,  though  a 
Congregational  divine,  was  yet  a  sturdy  loyalist  during  the 
Revolution,  and  had  a  son  who  entered  the  ministry  of  the 
Church  of  England  and  was  proscribed  and  banished  for 
entertaining  the  political  views  of  his  father.  Dr.  Byles 
was  a  noted  wit,  and  so  ready  with  his  puns  and  sarcasms 
that  seldom  did  anyone  try  to  match  him  in  this  line  with- 
out coming  off  the  worse  for  the  conflict.  When  Seabury 
paid  him  the  compliment  of  a  visit,  he  received  him  very 
cordially,  and  said,  with  a  mixture  of  irony  :  "  I  am  happy 
to  see  in  my  old  age  a  bishop  on  this  side  the  Atlantic,  and 
I  hope  you  will  not  refuse  to  give  me  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship."  To  which  the  Bishop  replied  :  '*  As  you  are  a 
/^/-handed  brother,  I  think  fit  to  give  you  my  left  hand," 
which  he  accordingly  did.  The  conversation  soon  turned 
.upon  the  general  subject  of  the  Church,  and  it  being  St. 
Mark's  day,  and  public  service  as  usual,  the  doctor  inquired : 
"Why  is  it  that  you  churchmen  still  keep  up  the  old 
Romish  practice  of  worshipping  saints  1 "  "  We  do  not 
worship  saints,"  was  the  quick  reply ;  ''  we  only  thank  God 
that  the  Church  has  had  such  worthy  advocates,  and  pray 
Him  to  give  us  hearts  and  strength  to  follow  their  exam- 
ple." "Aye,"  exclaimed  the  other,  "  I  know  you  are  fond 
of  traditions ;  but  I  trust  we  have  now  many  good  saints 
here  in  our  Church,  and,  for  my  part,  I  would  rather  have 
one  living  saint  than  half-a-dozen  dead  ones."  "  Maybe 
so,"  rejoined  the  Bishop,  "for  I  suppose  you  are  of  the 
same  mind  with  Solomon,  who  said  that  '  a  living  dog  is 
better  than  a  dead  lion.' " 

Enough  has  been  said  in  this  paper  to  show  the  admir- 
able spirit  of  Seabury  all  through  his  Episcopate.  "  For- 
getting those  things  which  were  behind,  he  reached  forth 
to  those  before " ;  and  if  assailed  for  the  part  he  took  in 
the  war  of  the  Revolution,  he  let  his  conscientious  pursuit 


192  Commemoration  at  Aberdeen. 

of  what  he  beUeved  to  be  right  at  the  time  pass  into  his- 
tory without  apology  or  vindication.  He  aimed  to  promote 
peace  among  his  brethren,  and  was  lenient  in  dealing  with 
their  prejudices.  One  venerable  presbyter  of  his  diocese, 
supported  by  his  people,  was  reluctant  to  adopt  the  revised 
Prayer-Book,  and  he  wrote  him  a  kind  letter,  and  said  in 
it :  "  The  question  is  not  which  book  is  the  best  in  itself, 
but  which  will  best  promote  the  peace  and  unity  of  the 
Church.  Such  was  the  temper  of  the  people  to  the  south- 
ward, that  unity  could  not  be  had  with  the  old  book.  Is 
not,  then,  the  unity  of  the  whole  Church  through  the  States 
a  price  sufficient  to  justify  the  alterations  which  have  been 
made,  supposing  (and  in  this  I  believe  you  will  join  with 
me)  that  there  is  no  alteration  made  but  what  is  consistent 
with  the  analogy  of  the  Christian  faith  1  Let  me,  there- 
fore, entreat  you  as  a  father  to  review  this  matter,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  but  that  you  will  join  with  your  brethren, 
and  walk  by  the  same  rule  in  your  pubHc  ministrations. 
This  will  rejoice  their  hearts,  and  mine  also.  May  God 
be  your  director  in  all  things,  and  grant  that  we  may  meet 
together  in  His  own  heavenly  kingdom." 

Signs  of  failing  health  began  to  appear,  and  symptoms 
of  a  paralytic  nature  came  upon  him,  without  seriously 
interrupting  his  duties,  His  sound  and  vigorous  constitu- 
tion, and  his  unimpaired  mental  faculties,  afforded  encour- 
agement to  believe  that  his  life  might  be  prolonged  for 
years.  This  was  in  1795.  Late  in  the  month  of  Febru- 
ary of  the  next  year,  "  Mr.  Jarvis  of  Middletown  was  sit- 
ting before  the  fire,"  so  says  an  eye-witness,  "his  wife 
near  him,  engaged  in  some  domestic  employment,  and  his 
little  son  playing  about  the  room.  A  messenger  entered 
with  a  letter,  sealed  with  black  wax,  and  handed  it  to  Mr. 
Jarvis  in  silence.  He  opened  it,  and  his  hand  shook  like 
an  aspen-leaf.     His  wife,  in  great  alarm,  hastened  to  him. 


Dr.  Beardsleys  Paper.  193 


and  his  son  crept  between  his  knees  and  looked  up  in- 
quiringly into  his  face.  He  could  not  speak  for  some 
moments.  At  last  he  said,  slowly  and  convulsively : 
'  Bishop  Seabury  is  dead.' " 

In  the  evening  of  Thursday,  the  25th  of  February,  he 
walked  with  his  daughter  to  the  house  of  one  of  his 
wardens.  He  complained,  when  there,  of  an  extreme 
pain  in  his  breast,  and  at  the  moment  of  rising  and  retir- 
ing from  the  tea-table,  fell  in  an  apoplectic  fit,  and  expired 
in  forty  minutes  after  entering  the  house. 

He  was  buried  from  the  church  on  Sunday;  and  this 
circumstance,  and  the  impediments  of  travelling  at  that 
season  of  the  year,  joined  with  the  few  facilities  for  con- 
veying intelligence,  prevented  the  clergy  of  the  diocese 
from  gathering  in  mourning  and  sorrow  around  his  grave. 
A  single  clergyman  attended  his  funeral  and  preached  a 
sermon. 

Thus  one  who  was  a  little  more  than  eleven  years  a 
bishop,  and  who  has  filled  the  American  Church  and  your 
Scottish  Church  with  the  memory  of  his  worth,  rises  and 
stands  before  us  in  history  to-day.  What  would  he  have 
thought  and  said,  if  he  could  have  cast  his  vision  forward 
a  centur}^  and  comprehended  the  contrast  between  the 
gathering  in  the  upper  room  in  Longacre  and  the  vastly 
greater  gathering  here  now,  to  express  devout  thankfulness 
for  an  act  which  has  been  blessed  of  God  to  the  good  of  so 
many  souls !  From  the  then  poor  see  of  Connecticut,  to 
which  he  was  going  in  faith  and  hope,  have  come  his  third 
successor  in  that  see  and  a  company  of  clerical  brethren, 
to  represent  its  present  strength  and  zeal,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  show  that  we  keep  ever  fresh  in  our  remembrance 
the  gift  that  we  received,  and  are  glad  to  join  with  others 
in  congratulating  you  most  heartily  on  the  prospect  of  yet 
brighter  days  for  your  own  Scottish  Church. 
17 


194  Cominemo7'ation  at  Aberdeen. 


Professor  George  Grub,  LL.D.,  then  read  a  paper  on 
The  Relations  of  the  American  and  Scottish  Churches; 
after  which  Bishop  WilHams  and  others  spoke. 

The  exercises  of  the  commemoration  were  concluded 
with  a  large  and  enthusiastic  meeting  in  the  evening  at 
the  Music  Hall. 

After  his  return  to  Connecticut,  the  Bishop  received 
from  the  Clergy  and  Trustees  of  St.  Andrew's  Church, 
Aberdeen,  a  letter,  beautifully  engrossed  upon  parchment 
and  illuminated,  in  the  following  words : 

The  Clergy  and  Trustees  of  St.  Andrew  s  Chu7'ch, 

Aberdeen^ 

to  the  Right  Reverend  Jo  Jin  Williams,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 

Connecticut. 

Right  Reverend  FatJier  in  God : 

It  would  have  given  us  unfeigned  pleasure,  as  the 
representatives  of  the  congregation  in  which  your  great 
predecessor  was  consecrated  and  in  which  the  centenary 
commemoration  of  that  happy  event  was  celebrated,  to 
have  expressed  to  you  and  your  accompanying  delegates, 
on  the  occasion  of  your  memorable  visit  in  October,  the 
pride  with  which  we  cherish  the  links  that  bind  us  to  the 
Church  of  America.  Sensible,  however,  of  the  incessant 
demands  made  upon  your  time  on  every  day  of  the  festi- 
val, we  postponed  the  expression  of  our  feelings  until  the 
approach  of  Christmas,  when  we  might  add  to  the  saluta- 
tions of  the  season  our  congratulations  upon  your  safe 
arrival  in  your  own  diocese,  a  prosperous  termination  of 
your  visit  to  Scotland  for  which  we  both  publicly  prayed 
and  gave  thanks  to  Almighty  God. 

Right  Reverend  Father,  we  beg  you  now  to  accept  the 
assurance  of  veneration  and  respect  with  which  your  pres- 
ence inspired  us,  and  of  gratitude  for  your  fatherly  counsel 


Address  from   St.  Andrew  s  Chinxh.  195 

and  encouragement  to  us  and  our  fellow-churchmen ;  and 
we  further  pray  you  to  receive  the  accompanying  photo- 
graphs of   St.   Andrew's,  to  remind  you  of  a  church  so 
closely  associated  with  the  history  of  your  own  See. 
We  beg  to  subscribe  ourselves,  Right  Reverend  Father, 

Your  faithful  servants  in  Christ, 

J.   M.   Danson,  M.  a.,  Incumbent  of  St.  Andrew's; 

Robert  Mackay,  M.  A.,  Curate; 

James   Chivas,   Church-warden  and  Canonical   Lay 

Representative ; 
James  Thomson,  Church-warden  and  Trustee; 
R.  B.   HoRNE,  Trustee  and  Lay  Representative ; 
H.  T.  Paterson,  Trustee; 
Alex'r  Walker,  Trustee; 
Jas.  Turreff,  Trustee; 
James  Taylor,  Secretary. 
Advent,  1884. 


S/T  DOMtNUS  DEUS  XOSTER   NOBISCUM, 
SICUT  FUIT  CUM  PA  TRIBUS  NOSTRIS. 


